Vår Energi and the University of Stavanger (UiS) have teamed up to inspire students to excel within their studies. This week, five UiS students were awarded scholarships of a total of 200,000 NOK.

In 2019, Vår Energi entered into a partnership with the University of Stavanger. The common ambition with the collaboration is to inspire students to excel in their studies – and to provide incentive to continue studying at higher levels.

“Knowledge is our most precious asset. It got us where we are today, and it will lead the way towards the solutions of tomorrow. The University of Stavanger has a long tradition of bringing forth fantastic students, many of whom find their way into the oil and gas industry. We hope that our modest contribution will not only inspire and motivate, but also signal our commitment to corporate social responsibility”, says Bjørn Thore Ribesen, Vice President of Field Development and Projects at Vår Energi.

The Vår Energi Master’s Degree Scholarships, amounting to 50,000 NOK each, are awarded to the best thesis presentations within the Geosciences and Petroleum Engineering.

A jury consisting of Bjørn Thore Ribesen, Vår Energi colleague VP Exploration Denis Palermo and the two university professors, Øystein Arild and Alejandro Escalona Varela, made their choices based on the students’ presentations.

Impressive work on well construction

The first Vår Energi scholarship for “drilling and natural gas technology” was awarded to Larisa Penkala.

“We chose Larisa for her excellent master thesis. In addition to contribute to increased safety in well construction, Larisa’s findings has an immediate technical and commercial/cost saving application in well construction”, explains Bjørn Thore.

Larisa Penkala.

Two winners

Christine Oswald and Denis Palermo.

For the second award category “reservoir technology and geoscience”, the jury found it too hard to point out a clear winner, and decided to add one additional scholarship in this category.  The first scholarship for the category “reservoir technology and geoscience” was awarded to Adrian Pindel (not present due to Covid-19 travel restrictions)

“Adrian manages to integrate geoscience, geophysics and geostatistical reservoir modelling on an advanced academic level with particularly high business relevance”, explains Denis Palermo.

The final scholarship in this category was awarded to Christine Oswald. The jury gives Christine credit for her valuable insights in the dynamic behaviour of residual paleo gas saturations in producing fields and her outstanding presentation skills.

Up and coming

Also, two Bachelor Degree students received Vår Energi scholarships of 25,000 NOK each. Einar Gramstad Salomonsen, a student of “Geo”, and Jan-Arthur S. Svendsbøe, studying “PetEng” have both excelled in their studies.

Vår Energi’s business objective is to expand our ownership and increase activities on the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS) in a profitable and sustainable manner. In order to achieve this, Vår Energi will need brilliant minds wanting to work for the oil and gas industry in the future. The collaboration with UiS is an investment in our future success.

Denis Palermo and Einar Gramstad Salomonsen.
Jan-Arthur S. Svendsbøe and Bjørn Thore Ribesen.