The University of Mines and Technology’s School of Petroleum Studies(SPeTs) has for the fourth time since 2016 won the National Petrobowl Contest, and gone further to raise the flag of Ghana by winning the Regional (Africa) Petrobowl Contest at the recently held 3-day SPE African Annual Student Congress which took place at the University of Ghana from 8th-10th May, 2023. The Contest which was organised by the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) is a regional undergraduate and postgraduate platform for technical paper presentations.
For the 2023 National Petrobowl Competition, UMaT participated together with the University of Ghana (UG), All Nations University (ANU), Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) and University of Energy and Natural Resources (UENR). The opening contest featured a matchup between UENR and ANU, with UENR winning by 60 points against ANU’s 5 points. In the second contest, UMaT competed with UG and won with a score of 45 points, while UG failed to earn any points. The third contest witnessed a battle between KNUST and UENR, with KNUST winning with a score of 65 points, against UENR’s 10 points. UMaT and KNUST advanced to the finals after defeating their respective opponents. The finals proved to be a highly competitive event, with both teams displaying exceptional knowledge and skills. At the end of the competition, UMaT secured victory with 20 points, while KNUST finished with 15 points.
Following the win at the national level, UMaT earned the place to represent Ghana at the Petrobowl African (Regional) Championship which was also held in Accra with Angola, Ghana, Tanzania and Uganda contesting for the ultimate prize. At the regional level, the first contest took place between Ghana and Tanzania with Ghana exhibiting their prowess and accumulating 25 points, while Tanzania secured 15 points. Contest 2 was between Uganda and Angola, with Uganda displaying a remarkable performance and scoring 45 points, while Angola lost with 5 points.
The highly anticipated grand finale witnessed a face-off between Ghana and Uganda where both teams showcased their knowledge and skills in an intense contest. In the end, Ghana emerged victorious with 20 points, while Uganda finished with 5 points. For winning the Regional Contest, UMaT will go ahead to represent Africa at the International Petrobowl Contest, together with Team Uganda, the first runners-up. The PetroBowl and Technical Paper contests are SPE's largest student competitions in which SPE Chapters from around the world participate in a quick-fire quiz covering a wide range of topics relevant to the E&P industry and also display their rich research and presentation skills respectively. Through this contest, the best students display their expertise and knowledge to a global audience during the Annual Technical Conference and Exhibitions. This year’s event would be held in Houston, USA in October 2023.
In addition to winning the Petrobowl Quiz Ghana edition and Petrobowl Quiz Africa edition (excluding Nigeria), participants from UMaT swooped several awards. Miss Isabella Donkor and Mr Emmanuel Quarshie won 2 book awards out of the 3 available to all participating countries in the Smartest and Ice Breaker Individual category. For the Most Outstanding Student Members for Ghana, Miss Priscilla Konadu Ameyaw Osei and Miss Issabella Donkor also took the 2nd and 9th positions. Also, the 1st and 3rd positions for the Undergraduate Paper Contest went to Miss Maame Aba Kwegyir-Abaidoo and Mr Roosevett Teddy Johnson, respectively while in the Postgraduate Category Mr Alexander Ofori Mensah was the winner and Mr Desmond A. Ashikwei emerged as the 2nd runner-up.
Members of the team who represented the University at both the National and Regional Petrobowl Contest include; Mr Gabriel Yaw Badu (Captain), Mr Kenneth Nyarko Oteng, Mr Frantz Mensah, Miss Yasmeen Bayorbo, and Mr Emmanuel Quarshie. Assoc Prof Richard Amorin, Vice Dean for the SPeTs is the Faculty Advisor and coach for the team, assisted by Mr Randy Osafo.
