Oil Firm Lets Gamers Drill For Black Gold

Maersk the oil firm releases an online real-time strategy game for players to drill in deep water and get their precious cargo to market. The game sees users fight to be the first to retrieve crude from the North Sea and the Middle East.

The free-of-charge video offering is a real-time strategy game that uses players' skill and luck to pinpoint maritime drilling locations. "Most people take for granted that we have oil and natural gas and not many people understand what it takes to find and produce it," Maersk chief executive Jakob Thomasen said. "The world's need for oil and gas is leading exploration into ever deeper waters and ventures demanding precision and cutting edge technology. "It's a sophisticated, fascinating industry and Quest for Oil offers everybody a glimpse of what oil and gas exploration is all about today."

'Quest For Oil' The real-time game requires strategy to help win in deep water drilling



The game requires skill in learning how to read seismic data




Players have to hunt for the best oil fields near Qatar and the North Sea. You have to compete against an artificially intelligent digital opponent that does everything it can to make players lose.

This seems a bit strange to me. What is the point of an oil company releasing a computer game? They say it is to tell the story of the oil business. I dont buy it. Maybe the best and most talented players will be offered jobs in the industry? Maybe the game is designed to let the player source possible locations of oil for the company? Maybe ive been on a conspiracy site too long and this infact just a game to tell the oil story in a new and engaging way?

Anyhoo here is the link

Cool find!

I checked out the game client page and am downloading it now, here's a link to download the client.

Game Client

Im gonna give it a try this afternoon and see if I can become an oil tycoon myself. I work in the Bakken oil fields here in North Dakota and have worked offshore for many years, even worked for Maersk for a while. This may be a pretty interesting game for some to play and may give those unfamiliar with the oil retrieval process some insight as to what all is involved.

Too bad I cant convert my virtual earnings in the game to Bitcoin and use them in real life.

I tried playing it earlier but the servers were over loaded

I quite like games like this, almost like a sim game. Maybe il try again later and see what its all about.

I think the game is being released to get people on the side of the oil companies. We all know they destroy out habitat and oceans, playing a game makes it less real...look at all the games that promote war, Battlefield and Call of Duty being the big players. The USA always win.....people are desensitized to the true horrors of war so are much more likely to either join up or support them. I see the same with this game.

Perhaps after some play those who know the industry they can answer this?

Maybe they have the players working the entire region as a starting point. I.E... Gamers look at real data in real areas to find the promising ones? I'm thinking of the distributed computing effort for SETI and the Genome project. This would be capable of a similar thing, wouldn't it? Nothing as definitive, but gamers would sift the endless data for the game that the companies may figure still holds something worth finding but too little to screw with the staffs to hunt?

Free labor for mind numbing analysis work.

What is the point of an oil company releasing a computer game?

Marketing, it does say MAERSK all over the place when you play the game, and posible some hidden education.

Yes, it's marketing -- and very clever marketing at that.

People who might never even think of accessing an oil company's website will be going to Maersk because they've got a free game they can download. So, they are attracting some people who they otherwise wouldn't. And also, as some gamers are pretty smart -- and to play a game like this one really well it seems you'll need a fair amount of smarts -- then the "careers" tag on the site might become interesting as well.

Then there's PR. Instead of trying the "we really love and cherish the environment" line that (for example) Shell and BP have been pushing so hard for the past few years, Maersk puts out a game about how to find and drill for oil!

They're saying, "Hey, let's get real. We drill for oil. That's our business. So never mind the fairy tales or gilding the lily, let's see if you really understand how it all works and how tough it is." And some people will then perhaps think: "Maybe this company isn't so bad. They've given us a game, and not just more of the same-old, same-old 'we love the environment' BS."

I'm pretty sure that they'll be keeping tabs on who plays and who does well. Like all the big oil companies, they are always on the lookout for very talented people, especially those who learn fast and can make quick decisions to get optimum results. And yes, some of those people might get contacted and asked if they'd like to do more than just play a game and instead, work for them and make some real money.

Put it this way: it can't really do them any great harm. What it cost them to develop that game was probably less than the average cost of running one exploratory drilling platform on a new location for just a day or two, so it's not a huge investment for them on that basis. But from a PR and Marketing point of view, it's great value for money.

reply to post by Nucleardiver


Thanks for the link. I might give the game a try myself when im on the PC later, hope I play great and get scouted by an oil industry headhunter