Petroleum Engineering Programme

Petroleum Engineering students may enhance their academic preparation for the growing opportunities in the related industries by pursuing a selection of courses with a petroleum emphasis.

Energy is a key component to people’s everyday lives; and a secure energy future requires a balance between environmental impact and affordable supply. Petroleum and geosystems engineers are able to address and solve important issues that will lead to energy security and thus are in high demand.

Economic and environmentally safe production of petroleum resources requires creative application of a wide spectrum of knowledge, including, but not limited to:

• Mathematics
• Physics
• Geology
• Chemistry

Petroleum engineering overlaps with many of the engineering disciplines, such as: mechanical, chemical, and civil.

Mission Statement 

1. To create, preserve, integrate, transfer and apply petroleum engineering knowledge.
2. To produce capable future engineers and to enhance the capabilities of current practitioners.

Vision

To produce an engineer who is the most respected and has a prestigious self-definition within the petroleum engineering profession.

Programme Goals

The primary goals of the programme are to produce highly-qualified students each year, placing these students in entry-level industry positions or graduate programmes, and to maintain an accredited programme in petroleum engineering.

If we are to reach these goals, we believe we must give our students the best possible preparation to enter this industry. Our curriculum gives every student a solid foundation in petroleum engineering fundamentals, but we also insist on experience in the industry. As a result, our graduates will enter the industry ready to be productive contributors, but they also will understand the need to continue to learn and improve their skills throughout their careers.

Programme Outcomes

In order to meet our Mission and Vision, PEN graduates must have:

• An ability to apply knowledge of mathematics, science, and engineering
• An ability to design and conduct experiments, as well as to analyze and interpret data
• An ability to design a system, component, or process to meet desired needs within realistic constraints such as economic, environmental, social, political, ethical, health and safety, manufacturability, and sustainability
• An ability to function on multidisciplinary teams
• An ability to identify, formulate, and solve engineering problems
• An understanding of professional and ethical responsibility
• An ability to communicate effectively
• The broad education necessary to understand the impact of engineering solutions in a global, economic, environmental, and societal context
• A recognition of the need for, and an ability to engage in life-long learning
• A knowledge of contemporary issues
• An ability to use the techniques, skills, and modern engineering tools necessary for engineering practice
• An ability to deal with the high level of uncertainty in definition and solution of petroleum reservoir problems

Curriculum

The curriculum in petroleum engineering is intended to prepare students for the petroleum industry and other fields which involve fluid flow through subsurface formations and particularly for those professions which have to do with drilling, production, reservoir engineering and transportation of oil, gas, and other subsurface resources.

The four-year curriculum in petroleum engineering includes sufficient training in basic engineering sciences to prepare the graduate for the application of engineering principles to the petroleum industry. Courses in geology give an understanding of the geological structures and conditions favorable for petroleum deposits. To the basic subjects are added courses in petroleum engineering which illustrate the application of the engineering principles to the type of problems and solution methods used in the petroleum industry.

Internship Requirement

A minimum of one semester (16 weeks) of approved experience in oilfield operation is required for registration in senior petroleum engineering courses.

Career Opportunities

Graduates of this programme will:

• Evaluate potential oil and gas reservoirs
• Oversee drilling activities
• Select and implement recovery schemes
• Design surface collection and treatment facilities

Petroleum engineers increasingly use advanced computers, not only in analysis of exploration data and simulation of reservoir behaviour, but also in automation of oilfield production and drilling operations. Petroleum companies own many of the world’s supercomputers.

Petroleum engineers have a future full of challenges and opportunities. They must develop and apply new technology to recover hydrocarbons from oil shale, tar sands, and offshore oil and gas fields. They must also devise new techniques to recover oil left in the ground after application of conventional producing techniques.

Since many petroleum companies conduct worldwide operations, the petroleum engineer may have the opportunity for assignments all over the world. Petroleum engineers must solve the variety of technological, political, and economic problems encountered in these assignments. These exciting technological challenges combine to offer the petroleum engineer a most rewarding career.