12 June 2013, London – Maersk Group has launched ‘Quest for Oil’ – a free, highly sophisticated computer game that allows players to experience first-hand the stresses and strains of successfully managing an oil company. Playing against a digital artificial intelligence opponent, the game tests players’ ability to understand the key challenges of the oil industry: how to “read” earth layers, how to detect where to find oil reservoirs and how to drill and successfully bring oil to market.
This was contained in a statement released by Joana Pereira, Senior Media Relations officer with Definition6, on behalf of Maersk Group.
Why would a company like Maersk Group produce a video game?
Maersk’s aim is to make the oil industry more accessible and to highlight the importance of this vital resource to the world economy. The oil industry suffers from having a reputation for lack of transparency and Maersk Group wants to change the status quo and engage and educate the public. Maersk also wants to inspire young people to take up a career in the oil industry which is presently experiencing a recruitment crisis in certain regions.
A recent survey on the North Sea oil industry found that 70% of employers are “struggling” to recruit quality candidates and the recruitment crisis is “set to get worse.” The survey also revealed mass skills shortages across the industry, with 25% of companies failing to find enough engineers. There were also shortages in drilling specialists (38%), subsea specialists (75%), HSE specialists (37%), project engineers (65%) and geoscientists (25%).
Despite advances in alternative fuels more than 6 billion people still rely on the skills, innovative abilities and dedication of the oil industry providing not only gasoline for transportation or ensuring heating or cooling for billions of households and workplaces around the world, but thousands of products we use in our everyday life.
