Big data in oil and gas industry. A new project base learning technique for students

The oil-gas and energy industry (extraction, processing, and supply of fossil and renewable resources), requires the processing of thousands of process data in short times (pressure, volume, flow, position, speed, concentration). In the context of the need to increase energy security, safety in operation and especially the obligation to ensure safe control (not affected by cyber wars), the understanding and use of artificial intelligence by students (in the management of technological processes) requires the modification of learning concepts and professional training. Starting from the increased digital skills of the students, the possibility of using PBL (Project Base Learning) in understanding chemical processes and industrial processing data was created within the technological higher education of the University of Oil and Gas. The method consists of the creation together with student teams of software dedicated to artificial intelligence, for the students to understand their role in the management of technological processes and especially in the design of security in the operation of installations. The teams were formed by the leader, critic, project manager and technologist engineer and each team described a technological installation and the problems that may arise. Thus, at the end of the semester, each team presented a security plan and economic operation of the facility, as well as the software created for this purpose. This paper presents a PBL technique in Oil and Gas University and the role of this project activity in learning engineering studies.