The good oil on Adelaide's expertise

Petroleum

The University of Adelaide has created history by becoming the only university in the world to win a prestigious prize for the second time at the World Oil Awards in Texas.

The University was named as one of three beneficiaries of the awards sponsor, World Oil magazine, the leading international journal for the oil and gas sector. The other two beneficiaries were the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa and the University of Wyoming in the United States.

It is the second time that the University of Adelaide has been awarded funding at this event, making history.

Run by the world's leading magazine for the exploration, drilling and production sector, World Oil announced 11 winners from around the globe at the fifth annual black-tie dinner in Houston, Texas, in October.

"The awards honour outstanding accomplishments in the industry and also donate thousands of dollars to tertiary institutions that are leading the field in terms of training and research," said Professor John Kaldi from the University's Australian School of Petroleum (ASP).

"While the money is not substantial, the recognition of our program and the associated prestige attached to these awards is quite significant in global terms."

Professor Kaldi said the ASP was the only centre in the southern hemisphere to provide a program that integrated the three critical elements of the petroleum industry: geoscience, engineering and management.

"Industry views this integration as being of tremendous value because they know our graduates can hit the ground running. With the buoyant state of the petroleum industry today, we are probably looking at 100% of our graduates securing jobs in the next few years.

"This recognition is highly significant, given that the University of Adelaide is competing against much bigger-funded, high-powered universities from around the world," he said.

Professor Kaldi said the funds would go towards supporting student activities such as field trips, thesis preparation and conference attendance.

Story by Candy Gibson