A student team from the Department of Earth Sciences at the College of Science has won the Excellence in Technical Innovation Award at the international Imperial Barrel Award competition, held in Houston, United States of America.

The IBA is one of the world's leading geological competitions for students of Earth and petroleum sciences. Over a period of eight to ten weeks, participants analyse complex geological and geophysical data to explore oil reservoirs and assess their reserves before presenting a comprehensive study to a judging panel comprising experts from leading international oil companies.

The team represented the Middle East region at the global finals after securing first place and the Innovation Award at the regional level. The team comprised Abdulrahman bin Ali Al-Awaid, Abdullah bin Mohammed Al-Mahrouqi, Muzna bint Khalifa Al-Qasmi and Sara bint Nasser Al-Saadi from the Department of Earth Sciences at the College of Science, along with Jasim bin Mohammed Al-Aradi from the Department of Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering at the College of Engineering.

The team was supervised and trained by Dr. Mohammed Farfour from the Department of Earth Sciences, with support from Khadija Al-Maimani of Petroleum Development Oman.
This achievement reflects SQU's commitment to fostering a culture of innovation and academic excellence among its students and preparing them to compete confidently on the international stage.