PetroBowl Rules and Regulations

I, Introduction

    The PetroBowl ® competition pitches SPE Student Chapter teams against each other in a series of quick-fire rounds, answering technical and nontechnical industry-related questions. Teams from all over the world are selected to participate at the Championship games which take place during SPE’s Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition (ATCE).

    Base on the guidelines of 2017 PetroBowl Championship of SPE International, Hanoi University of Mining and Geology (HUMG) SPE Student Chapter is going to host the 2017 North Vietnam PetroBowl Contest. The competition is aimed to find out the most 4 outstanding teams and is opened for all student chapters in the region which has a PetroBowl team and interested in gathering, exchanging knowledge related Oil and Gas industry.

II, Game format

    The 2017 North Vietnam PetroBowl Contest follows a time-based style as in SPE International PetroBowl Championship, which follows a standard single elimination bracket-style process in which two teams compete and the winning team (team with most points at end of each round) advances to the next round. The most 4 outstanding team will be awarded corresponding prizes as stated above.

    Base on the number of registered team, organizing committee will randomly choose the pair of teams to compete and number of fighting rounds.

III, Tournament Officials

1. Judges: Each game will have three judges who are SPE members chosen by the Organizing Committee. All judges' decisions concerning compliance to the rules and awarding of points will be final unless an appeal is requested

2. Moderator: Each game will have a moderator. There may be two moderators to share the responsibility. The moderator(s) will read the questions, consult judges as needed to determine the correctness of answers, award and deduct points, and otherwise enforce the rules of competition. Questions will not be projected on a screen unless they specifically require a “Visual Aid”, in which case the moderator will clearly direct participants’ attention to a screen.

3. Score-keeper: Each game will have at least one score-keeper. The score-keeper(s) will keep the official score and individual statistics. Games will not be considered final until the score-keeper has declared the official score.

4. Timekeeper: Each game will have one timekeeper. The timekeeper will enforce time limits and supervise the game clock.

IV, Equipment and Materials

1. All games will be played such that each participant in the current game has a "buzzer" – an electronic device (or handheld device) that determines which participant buzzes in to answer a question first.

• Each participant is responsible for monitoring whether his or her own buzzer is operating properly throughout the game.
• If a participant believes a buzzer is malfunctioning, it is the participant’s responsibility to alert PetroBowl officials immediately. The current toss-up question will be finished and, if a participant from the other team buzzed in, the participant will be required to answer per normal protocol. PetroBowl officials will then stop the competition and attempt to reproduce the alleged buzzer malfunction. If it is recreated, the question will be discarded; if the malfunction cannot be recreated and the buzzers are deemed to be performing as designed, the other team’s answer will stand and normal rules per section P will apply. Enforcement of this rule is subject to the moderator’s ruling that the malfunction impacted play of that question.
• If the buzzer system is ultimately deemed to be inoperable by the Moderator, an alternative method (such as the “table slap” method) may be used. Teams will be fully briefed on the protocol of any such methods by the Moderator before proceeding.

2. All games will be timed and will use a clock clearly visible to both teams.

3. Participants will be provided paper and pencils.

4. Calculators will be provided. To ensure fairness, competitors will use only the provided calculators.

5. Participants may not use reference materials during the game.

V, Type of Questions

1. Each game uses toss-up questions worth 10 points each, and bonus questions, worth up to 10 points each.

• A team receives a bonus question for each toss-up question correctly answered by one of its players (except in overtime).

2. Questions are selected from a pre-screened question bank. If the question bank is depleted, the moderator may resort to using back-up questions which could consist of questions from previous competitions.

3. Questions are intended to test the contestants’ knowledge of petroleum engineering and the petroleum industry. Questions may include history, trivia, current events, technical questions, calculations, and problem solving

4. Suggested (but not all inclusive) list of study materials as possible sources of questions:

• Academic: Technical, Fundamentals of Petroleum Engineering

1. Content from SPE’s PetroWiki (www.petrowiki.org)

2. Petroleum Engineering and related (Geology, Reservoir Engineering, etc.) textbooks

3. Glossary of Industry Terminology: http://www.spe.org/speapp/spe/industry/reference/glossary.htm

4. Schlumberger Oilfield Glossary: http://www.glossary.oilfield.slb.com/Default.cfm

• Non-Academic: Industry Statistics, History, Trivia, Current Events

1. http://www.spe.org/industry/statistics.php

2. Journal of Petroleum Technology

3. SPE Annual Reports

4. Yergin, Daniel, The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money & Power.

• Toss-up questions:

1. A player may “buzz in” (using his/her buzzer) to answer a toss-up question at any point after the moderator has begun reading the question. There will be no signalling between team members (or from the audience) to indicate who will buzz in on a toss-up question. Restricted signalling includes verbal signals, written signals, hand motions, head motions, eye contact, and anything else construed as signalling by the tournament officials. Violation of the signalling rules could, subject to the moderator, result in forfeiture of opportunity to answer the toss-up. Repeated violations can result in ejection and/or disqualification per the “Ethics and Conduct” rules.

2. Once a player has buzzed in, a tournament official will verbally recognize the team and the player. If a player repeatedly responds before being recognized, tournament officials reserve the right to invalidate that player’s response, turning the question over to the other team, if applicable.

3. The player who buzzed in and is recognized by the moderator may NOT confer verbally or otherwise with teammates (or spectators). Should this occur, the player will lose the chance to respond to the question, and the opposing team will be allowed to answer, if applicable. Alternately, the question may be thrown out if necessary at the discretion of tournament officials. Repeated violations can result in ejection and/or disqualification per the “Ethics and Conduct” rules.

4. If a player buzzes in before the moderator has finished reading, the moderator will stop at that point. If the answer given is incorrect, the moderator will re-read the entire question for the benefit of the other team.

5. An answer to a toss-up must begin within 5 seconds after the player has been recognized. An answer started after the timekeeper has said "Time" will be treated as no answer. Ties between the player and the timekeeper are decided in favour of the player.

6. Players have 5 seconds to buzz in after the moderator has finished reading the toss-up. If the player answers incorrectly, the other team will then have 5 additional seconds to buzz in. Some questions may permit more time, which will be noted specifically by the question.

7. Decisions as to whether players have exceeded the allotted time to buzz in or to answer may be rendered only by the tournament officials and are not contestable.

8. Each correct answer to a toss-up question is worth 10 points. An incorrect answer will be assessed a 5 point penalty.

• Bonus questions:

1. Teams may confer on bonus questions.

2. On bonus questions, the team captain will give the answer or explicitly designate another team member to give the answer. Any other player’s answer will not be accepted.

3. Unless advised by the Moderator, a team has 15 seconds to answer a bonus question. The 15 seconds starts when the moderator finishes reading the question. If the moderator is asked to repeat the question – the time will still be counting down. After 15 seconds, the moderator will prompt the team for an answer. Once prompted, the team captain (or the team member he designates) must immediately begin answering or forfeit the opportunity to answer.

4. A team may begin its answer before the moderator is finished reading all of a bonus question. In such cases, the moderator stops reading when the team begins its answer. If the bonus contains another part, and the first part was answered correctly, the moderator then reads the next part of the question.

5. Each bonus question is worth up to 10 points. There will not be a penalty for incorrect answers to bonus questions.

VI, Appeals

1. An appeal is defined as a team’s petition to reconsider a decision/judgment on an answer. Success of an appeal shall be defined by a reversal by the judges to said decision/judgment.

2. All teams will be allowed one (1) appeal per game. If a team is successful in its first appeal, it will be granted a second appeal. Regardless of the outcome of the second appeal, no team shall have more than two appeals per game.

3. Reversals to a decision will only be considered if an appeal has been made by a team.

4. Appeals can only come from the team captain.

5. Appeals must be expressed immediately to the Moderator after a decision and before the next question is read. In the case of the last question of a game, the appeal must come before the moderator announces the final score.

6. A team will have 15 seconds immediately after the appeal to state their position. It will be up to the judges’ discretion whether to sustain or over-turn a decision.

VII, Call for applicant

   Application is opened for every Student chapter. Organizing committee is delighted to invite student chapters in the south of Vietnam, as well as student chapters from other countries. Financial support will not be covered but transportation from Noi Bai International Airport (HAN) to HUMG Campus and vice versa will be provided subjected to the schedule provided and prior arrangements. A commitment fee will be collected for the food and accommodation of each participant. In addition, participants may be provided a free tour exploring Hanoi if you are interested in.

   Applicant team which is interested in the competition please fill in the registration form as follow and submit registration form to HUMG SPE Student Chapter before: November 12th 2017