Zarqa, April 22 (Petra) – The Hashemite University made a remarkable achievement, winning first place in the Innovation Excellence Award and fourth place in the Imperial Barrel Award (IBA) competition, organized by the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG).

The IBA award is a prestigious annual, global, graduate-level geoscience competition where student teams analyze real-world petroleum geological, geophysical, and energy datasets to evaluate basin potential. Over 10 weeks, teams work on complex data to present exploration prospects to industry experts for scholarship funding.

The competition involves analyzing real-world data in the fields of geology and geophysics related to oil and gas exploration, with the participation of universities in Jordan, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, and Oman, the Hashemite university said in a press release on Wednesday .

Its five-member team comprised students of the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the Prince El-Hassan Bin Talal Faculty of Natural Resources and Environment.

The team worked intensively for three months studying and interpreting data using advanced global software, such as Petrel and Techlog, following specialized training under academic supervision and in collaboration with experts of international oil companies, it said.

The project's deliverables included a comprehensive evaluation of the petroleum system, construction of accurate geophysical models and sections, estimation of oil and gas quantities in the reservoirs, and practical technical recommendations for the future development of these fields based on advanced scientific criteria, according to the statement.

It is the first-of-its-kind achievement of the university in the competition, marking a starting point for advanced global rankings in future rounds as the college is already preparing the team for the 2027 competition, said the university.

It underscores a high level of scientific and applied training the university provides its students, encompassing theoretical knowledge, advanced practical training, and effective partnerships with the industrial sector, it said.

Participation in such international competitions provides students with broad opportunities to connect with regional and global oil and gas companies, enhancing their career prospects after graduation and supporting efforts to develop Jordan's natural resource exploration sector by providing it with young talent, said the university.

//Petra//SS

22/04/2026 17:01:40