IIT (ISM) Dhanbad Secures Second Place at Prestigious Imperial Barrel Award Asia Pacific Competition

Dhanbad: A team from IIT (ISM) Dhanbad secured second place at the Imperial Barrel Award (IBA) 2026 Asia Pacific Regional Competition, one of the most prestigious contests for geoscience students worldwide.

The competition drew participation from leading institutions across the Asia Pacific region. Indonesia’s Institut Teknologi Bandung won the first place, while IIT Bombay secured third.

The IIT (ISM) team earned praise from judges for its detailed study on deepwater hydrocarbon systems in the Gulf of America. The project featured advanced interpretation of 3D seismic data, prospect generation, analog benchmarking and volumetric risk assessment, underlining the team’s strong technical and analytical skills.

The team consisted of Pareekshit Hegde, Padmini Pujapanda, Karthik H S, Gokul K and Sachin Dhakad from the departments of Applied Geophysics and Petroleum Engineering. They were mentored by Saurabh Datta Gupta of the Department of Applied Geophysics.

Organised by the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, the Imperial Barrel Award is regarded as a premier global competition that tests students on real-world petroleum exploration challenges.