Curtin Sarawak students placed second in Schlumberger Ocean Plug-in Competition

Miri – 28 January 2014 – Five students from the School of Engineering and Science of Curtin University, Sarawak Malaysia (Curtin Sarawak) placed second in the recent Schlumberger Ocean Plug-in Competition 2013 held in Kuala Lumpur.

Team DevPet comprising Applied Geology students Masshiela binti Ahmad and Julius anak Stephen, computer system and networking student Nur Hanani binti Ahmad Shukri and petroleum engineering students Ian Chang Huan Sheng and Rohan Vijapurapu bagged a RM7,000 cash prize and medals for their ‘3DModelPDF’ plug-in.

More than 30 teams of students from institutions of higher learning in Malaysia and Singapore participated in the software development contest aimed at inspiring young programming talent in the exploration and production industry. The competition was the first of its kind to be held in Malaysia.

Only six teams from five universities were chosen to compete in the final round including Curtin Sarawak, UCSI University, Universiti Malaya, Universiti Teknologi Petronas and National University of Singapore.

By using Schlumberger’s Petrel software and Ocean framework, the students were required to build an innovative oil and gas software application (plug-in). They were given six months to create their ‘plug-in’ which was later judged by a panel of judges from the industry.

Team NoNiT from UCSI University grabbed the first prize with their ‘TesWell’ plug-in while Universiti Malaya and Universiti Teknologi Petronas with their ‘Petrel SMS’ and ‘Seismic Image Tool’ plug-ins tied for third place.

At the grand finale, one team member from each team presented their creations to the panel of judges and participated in the question and answer (Q&A) session. Nur Hanani, an avid debater, represented her team during the presentation.

According to Masshiela, the Curtin team’s plug-in allows users to export their 3D models to non-editable PDF format where the model can be viewed by rotating and zooming as in the in original petrel system.

She said the team’s win came as a big surprise as it faced stiff competition from the other universities.

“Joining the competition was a great experience for us. It was very challenging for us given the time constraints and our lack of knowledge in petrel and C#, but we managed to pull through and even completed our plug-in ahead of time, scored 5 extra points for early submission in the process,” said an elated Masshiela.

(L – R) Chang, Rohan, Nur Hanani, Masshiela and Julius at the grand finale held at Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Kuala Lumpur.

Professor Michael Cloke, Dean of Curtin Sarawak’s School of Engineering and Science, receiving the trophy from Masshiela while other team members and Dr. Ramasamy Nagarajan look on.