Youth, Brainpower and Meeting Energy’s Challenges
Mark Green
Posted May 7, 2019
Take a good look at these four students from The Village School in Houston, winners of the Offshore Technology Conference’s high school competition, the OTC Energy Challenge, which focuses students on working on real-world issues. They represent the next generation of women and men who no doubt will be at the forefront of meeting future challenges associated with the production and use of energy.
Left to right: Divyesh Khatri, Olivia Bangs, Omar Imtiaz and Roberto Martelli.
Coached by Meg Hennessy, the team worked to repurpose a depleted oil and natural gas field and/or facility by designing a system to capture carbon dioxide. The task of “carbon wrangling” involves capturing, transporting and securely storing CO2. The team had to clearly identify health, safety and environmental benefits while considering potential regulatory or policy needs. Here’s how the team described its presentation:
“It takes carbon dioxide from major sources onshore and transports them to our repurposed platform. On the platform, [CO2] is used to perform Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) to generate additional oil and to perform a Hydrogen Evolution Reaction (HER), which converts carbon dioxide into carbon monoxide, which can be used as part of a carbon loop for generating energy or can be sold.”
The team from The Village School was one of 18 teams that participated in the challenge, which also is designed to attract students to a wide range of STEM (science, technology, engineer, mathematics) opportunities in the energy industry.
API is glad to be among these Energy Challenge sponsors: BP, BHP Billiton, the Independent Petroleum Association of America and SPE International’s Gulf Coast Section. Congratulations to The Village School and all of the competitors in this year’s challenge.
About The Author
Mark Green joined API after a career in newspaper journalism, including 16 years as national editorial writer for The Oklahoman in the paper’s Washington bureau. Previously, Mark was a reporter, copy editor and sports editor at an assortment of newspapers. He earned his journalism degree from the University of Oklahoma and master’s in journalism and public affairs from American University. He and his wife Pamela have two grown children and six grandchildren.