Introduction
Petroleum engineering curriculum involves the application of basic sciences for the development, recovery and field processing of oil and gas resources. Due to the complex nature of petroleum reservoirs, various petroleum engineering specialties have emerged over time. Among these are drilling engineering, formation evaluation, completion and workover, surface processing, and reservoir engineering. It should be emphasized, however, that modern petroleum production operations require a team effort in which all specialties of petroleum engineering as well as geology, geophysics, and computer technologies are involved.
In the Petroleum Engineering program, the student is educated in the principles, procedures, and practices of drilling, formation evaluation, reservoir studies, production, environmental protection, and economic analysis. The aim of the first two years of the curriculum is to provide the student with the necessary background in physics, chemistry, geology, mathematics, and engineering subjects such as fluid mechanics, thermodynamics, strength of materials and electric circuits. The curriculum introduces the students to basic petroleum engineering subjects too. The third and the fourth years are dedicated to petroleum engineering courses which cover the core areas of drilling engineering, production engineering, formation evaluation, and reservoir engineering.
The job of petroleum engineers starts after the discovery of a structure suitable for oil and gas accumulation. Exploration wells are first drilled and tested to evaluate the economic aspects of the discovery and to obtain the necessary data for the planning and development of the field. Petroleum reservoir engineers are normally responsible for determining the optimum number and locations of the wells and for establishing the production and recovery methods to achieve maximum recovery in the most economical manner. This involves the utilization of basic and advanced sciences and computer technology.
The role of petroleum production engineers comes next. These engineers, with the information provided by the reservoir engineers, are responsible for the design and implementation of well completions and subsurface and surface production facilities, which are needed to extract hydrocarbons and to treat the produced fluids to convert to oil and gas with the specifications needed for transportation and refining operations. Petroleum drilling engineers are responsible for the design, planning, and supervision of the well drilling activities.
The undergraduate program Bachelor of Science (BS) in “Petroleum Engineering” is accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET (https://www.abet.org).
Requirements
Every student of Bachelor of Science in Petroleum Engineering program must complete the following curriculum:
General Studies Requirements (22 credit hours)
Title |
Courses |
Credit Hours |
English |
ENGL 101, 102, 214 |
9 |
Islamic & Arabic Studies |
IAS 111, 121, 212, xxx |
8 |
Global Studies |
GS xxx |
3 |
Career Essentials |
CGS 392 |
1 |
Physical Education |
PE 101 |
1 |
Total Credit Hours 22 |
Digital/Business Foundation (12 credit hours)
Title |
Courses |
Credit Hours |
Intro. to Programm. in Python & C |
ICS 104 |
3 |
Introduction to Data Science |
ISE 291 |
3 |
Intro. to Artificial Intelligence |
COE 292 |
3 |
Business & Entrepreneurship |
BUS 200 |
3 |
Total Credit Hours 12 |
Math & Science Requirements (26 credit hours)
Title |
Courses |
Credit Hours |
Math |
MATH 101, 102, 201, 208 |
14 |
Physics |
PHYS 101, 102 |
8 |
Chemistry |
CHEM 101 |
4 |
Total Credit Hours 26 |
General Engineering Fundamentals (6 credit hours)
Title |
Courses |
Credit Hours |
Statics & Strength of Materials |
CE 202 |
3 |
Fluid Mechanics |
CHE 204 |
3 |
Total Credit Hours 6 |
Core Requirements (49 credit hours)
Title |
Courses |
Credit Hours |
Principles of Geology |
GEOL 102 |
2 |
Introduction to the Petroleum Industry |
PETE 101 |
2 |
Essentials of Geophysics |
GEOP 102 |
2 |
Integrated Design I |
CPG 498 |
1 |
Integrated Design II |
CPG 499 |
2 |
Phase Behavior |
PETE 202 |
3 |
Rock and Fluid Properties |
PETE 206 |
4 |
Reservoir Engineering |
PETE 301 |
3 |
Well Completion |
PETE 302 |
3 |
Well Testing |
PETE 306 |
3 |
Drilling Engineering |
PETE 311 |
4 |
Well Logging |
PETE 313 |
3 |
Reservoir Description |
PETE 315 |
4 |
Reservoir Simulation |
PETE 402 |
3 |
Petroleum Production Engineering |
PETE 403 |
3 |
Petroleum Economics |
PETE 407 |
3 |
Geology |
GEOL 345 |
4 |
Total Credit Hours 49 |
Electives (12 credit hours)
Title |
Courses |
Credit Hours |
Petroleum Economics |
Two PETE 4xx Courses |
6 |
GEOL Elective |
One GEOL 3xx Course |
3 |
GEOP Elective |
One GEOP xxx Course |
3 |
Total Credit Hours 12 |
Summer Training (2 credit hours)
Title |
Courses |
Credit Hours |
Summer Camp |
CPG 199 |
1 |
Summer Training |
PETE 399 |
1 |
Total Credit Hours 2 |
The total number of credit hours required is 129