Game Guide
THE QUEST
FOR OIL
A computer game about gaining and applying
detailed insights into the geographical underground
and global oil industry.
Quest for Oil |A real-time strategy resource management game
How to win...
Produce a pre-defined volume of oil faster than your opponent.
The winning amount depends on the scenario:
North Sea:
Qatar:
1,000,000 barrels of oil
2,000,000 barrels of oil
Get your name on the official Quest for Oil high-score list by beating the fastest so far.
What is your strategy?
To get the best possible results, a number of strategic considerations require your sharp insight and decisions. There are a wide variety of combinations for how to make money in the various oil fields, and many,
many more for how NOT to.
The scarce resources are:
• Oil fields
• Time
• Money
You don’t know how much time you have before your opponent achieves his/her goal and beats you.
Therefore, you need to act strategically in terms of your limitations. You need to act smart - and you need
to constantly focus on the three parameters mentioned above.
Learn more on the following pages...
Oil fields
Each location has a number of oil field licences available with various estimated potentials (see potential
overview map).
Time
Basically, you never know how long you have to reach your target. Even if you see that your opponent
has made fast progress early in the game, you still have the chance to win by locating the best reservoirs,
combined with choosing the right technological set-up and production process. You will then overtake
your opponent and reach victory.
So apart from using all your knowledge about earth layers and high-tech equipment, you will also have to
stay cool, and rely on your chosen strategy to reach your goal.
Money
You initially have a certain sum and you start investing to get licences, equipment, assets and advice. Try to
get an understanding of all the costs you will encounter during your quest before making money yourself.
If you don’t, you risk running out of funds in the middle of an exploration or production process. This could
instantly jeopardize your mission – and you would loose.
At the same time, you should remember that once you obtain the maximum number of oil barrels, the
money you have accumulated will also count toward your position on the highscore leaderboard.
Quest for Oil |A real-time strategy resource management game
Getting to know your dashboard
Location
Gameboard
Overview maps
In the ‘Overview’ tab on the mini map in
the lower left-hand corner, you can see
an outline of the oil fields for which you
can buy licences.
The map also shows your own assets
and activity (blue dots). Your opponent
is depicted with red dots
Potential
If you click on the ‘Potential’ tab, you can
see where the oil fields with the highest
potential are located.
Orange:low
Yellow:medium
Green:high
However, the greater an oil field’s potential, the higher the cost of the licence
Quest for Oil |A real-time strategy resource management game
Asset overview
Research Vessel
use to explore the area
performs seismic surveys
use when buying licence
Helicopter
use to explore the area
use when buying licences
fastest way to move around
Fast-track
click on the symbols for quickly locating
your assets (rigs, helicopter or research
vessel)
Semi-Sub drilling rig
use for drilling activities (oil exploration)
2 choices available:
• New Semi-Sub
Quality: 5/6
Bit integrity: 100%
Max. attempts: unlimited
Price: $ 6 m
Ultra Harsh Jack-up drilling rig
use for drilling activities (oil exploration)
2 choices available:
• New Jack-up
Quality: 4/6
Bit integrity: 100%
Max attempts: 3
Price: $ 4.5 m
Production platform
use for oil production activities
2 choices available:
• Used Semi-Sub
Quality: 3/6
Bit integrity: 75%
Max attempts: unlimited
Price: $ 4.5 m
• Used Jack-up
Quality: 2/6
Bit integrity: 75%
Max attempts: 2
Price: $ 3 m
• New platform:
Oil transportation options:
- oil tanker
- pipeline
Price: $ 6 m
• Used platform:
Oil transportation options:
- oil tanker
Price: $ 3 m
How to move around
1. left click to select
2. right click on the map to move the
asset to the selected point
Quest for Oil |A real-time strategy resource management game
Maersk Advisors
Three Maersk specialists are available to you throughout the game. They introduce you to their field
of expertise in the MiniGame tutorial. Make sure to listen to them carefully. They provide the crucial
knowledge you need to become an oil exploration expert.
When playing the first time, a tutorial
will automatically appear. If you want
to see the tutorial in a subsequent
MiniGame, click the question mark in
the right hand corner of the MiniGame
window
Seismic MiniGame
Lead Geologist
- seismic oil exploration specialist
The game is automatically paused during tutorials – so you don’t need to worry about your opponent
outplaying you while the tutorial is being played.
Drilling MiniGame
Toolpusher
- drilling specialist in oil exploration
Production MiniGame
Production Engineer
- oil production specialist
Quest for Oil |A real-time strategy resource management game
Game on!
Getting started
1.Check out the ‘Potential’ map for
locating oil fields with suitable
potential.
2.Use your assets to get to the oil field
preferred.
3.Once you reach the field, you will
be able to check out the estimated
reservoir potential and price.
4.Check availability and your funds.
5.Click buy
Buying seismic data
1.Once you have acquired the licence,
start exploring for oil by buying seismic data
2.Be aware of the updated expected
potential of the reservoir
Seismic analysis - help
You have different options:
1. Call your Maersk specialist and watch
the tutorial and additional video
provided. Call by clicking the question
mark in the right hand corner. This
help is free.
2.Buy an indication about where traps,
caps and even potential reservoir
rocks are located. Note that this kind
of advice costs money
Seismic survey results
You can redo the seismic survey if you
are not satisfied with the result.
Tip: to do better than your opponent,
try to improve your ability to analyze the
seismic data. Check out the tutorial and
additional video and study the earth
layers characteristics
Earth layer overview
Study the earth layers and their characteristics carefully. Your skills in analyzing
seismic data is key to finding oil
Sandstone
Limestone
Shale
Chalk
Salt
Volcanics
Quest for Oil |A real-time strategy resource management game
Drilling for oil
Drilling for oil - Step 1
Choose your drilling rig by browsing
through characteristics and prices.
Remember to choose your strategy
wisely (the parameters time and
money). See assets overview earlier
in this Game Guide
Drilling for oil - Step 2
Analyze the seismic 3D map to locate
your first exploration drill (use arrows to
move the map). Blue areas are closest
to the surface, red areas are deepest.
Drilling for oil - Step 3
Once you have indicated where to drill,
you need to control the actual drilling
process. Your goal is to drill as fast and
as safely as possible.
Your objective is to locate the actual
reservoir and find out how much oil is
actually down there.
Tip: Oil moves upwards!
Watch out for warnings informing you
about a possible blowout or
pressure differential.
Tip: When experiencing a pressure
differential you need to react fast and
work hard to balance it. Click many
times on ‘minus’
Important parameters during
drilling
Bit integrity: indicates how well your
drill bit is doing. This will initially depend
on the choice of rig and secondly on your
drilling skills.
Rate of Penetration (ROP): Dictates
how fast you drill. Drilling too fast will
reduce your bit’s integrity and force you
to replace the drill.
Pressure differential: In the bore-well,
the pressure must be maintained – if
the pressure reaches critical levels,
blowout prevention is engaged and your
drilling operation is temporarily halted.
Drilling for oil - Step 4
Redo the drilling process until satisfied
with the results (see summary below
map).
Keep in mind that each drilling process
costs time and money, which are your
most precious resources in Quest for Oil
- besides knowledge, of course
Quest for Oil |A real-time strategy resource management game
Oil production
Oil production - Step 1
Choose your production platform by
browsing through characteristics and
prices.
Oil production - Step 2
After confirming the location and size of
the reservoir, it is time to plan and carry
out the oil production process.
Remember to choose your strategy
wisely (parameters time and money).
See the assets overview earlier in this
Game Guide
Your objective is to unlock the oil from the
reservoir rock. You can do this by injecting
water and natural gas into the rock. The
right pressure adjustment is crucial.
Depending on how fast you need/want
to produce oil (depending on your strategy), place the injection wells closer
and/or further from the production well.
See how the total number of barrels
and barrels per minute will change
accordingly
Oil production - Step 3
After placing the injector wells, the next
step is to adjust the pressure.
Oil production - Step 4
The last step is to choose how to transport the oil to your refinery.
Balance the level of injection pressure
to dictate whether you wish to produce
the oil slowly or fast. Faster production
equals greater attrition within the reservoir, resulting in fewer barrels and vice
versa. Missing the set marker results
in penalty to how much oil you may
extract from the reservoir
Tankers: cheapest mode of transportation. You are restricted to one oil tanker
per production platform. Oil tankers may
be freely reassigned to other production
platforms at any time.
Pipes: the fastest way to transport oil
to a refinery
Maersk Group
Esplanaden 50
1098 Copenhagen K
Denmark
Tel. +45 33 63 33 63
www.maersk.com