ITB Students Wins Asia Pacific Mud Design

Oleh Muhammad Fikri

Editor -

JOHOR BARU, itb.ac.id - Represented by a group of Petroleum Engineering students from the batch of 2008, ITB was victorious in the Asia-Pacific-wide Oil and Gas Technology Expo and Conference (OGTEC) 2011. Joydi Mirza Zein won the first place in Mud Competition while Brian Christiantoro won third place in the similar category. Another team, comprised of Singgih Suganda, Tita Ristanto, Bastian Andoni Napitupulu, Romario Beckenbauer, and Andika Rachman Hakim won the third place in Witz Challenge. All of them are official members of Society of Petroleum Engineer (SPE) Student Chapter ITB.
OGTEC was held by SPE Student Chapter (SC) Universiti Teknologi Malaysia on Tuesday to Thursday,  (22-24/11/11). Other colleges that participated in the event include Chulalongkorn University (Thailand), University Technology Malaysia, Universiti Teknologi Mara (Malaysia), Beijing University (Cina), Universitas Indonesia (UI), and Universitas Pembangunan Nasional (UPN) Yogyakarta.



Mud Competition

In drilling activities, drilling mud or mud is important to balance the circulation pressure. Because of its vital function, mud is even called the "blood" of drilling. In Mud Competition, participants have to decide the right composition of chemicals to create the optimum mud.
Mud Design is done by mixing compounds, observing actions and reactions, and laboratory tests using standard drilling equipment like mud balance to measure density and Fann V-G meter to measure viscosity. Compared to the other participants, ITB can be considered innovative because of the use of saturated salt and lignosulphonate-based mud, instead of the text-book standard, water-based mud like what the other participants did. In the competition, each participants must design mud and present his.her works to a panel of judges that comprised of academicians and professionals.

Witz Challenge



Witz Challenge is a quiz that demands comprehension in petroleum engineering, geophysics, geology, and petrochemistry. While some of the topics have been covered in the curriculum, others need to be self-learned. "Our achievement is also due to the supports of many, like BP Migas, Medco Foundation, and SPE Java Section," said Singgih, who heads the Competition Management Division of SPE SC ITB. He added that ITB used a special laboratory and raw materials for mud design with courtesy of BP MIgas. "The support from Faculty of Mining and Petroleum Engineering is also greatly helped us in red tape matters and administration. Preparation and getting sponsors became relatively easy," he said. Singgih also said that the competition is a good start for the next competitions ahead.

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