BEng (Hons) Petroleum Engineering
- UCAS code: H850
- Mode of study: Full time or sandwich with work placement
- Duration: 3 years full time, 4 years sandwich with work placement
- Entry requirements 2013: 240-280 points to include 160 points from a minimum of 2 A levels, or equivalent, including Mathematics plus Science or Technology subjects.
- Please see details of the range of other qualifications that will also be considered on the 'Entry Requirements' tab below. Please do contact us for advice on other qualifications that aren't listed here.
Find out more:
Tel: +44 (0)23 9284 2555
Email: technology.admissions@port.ac.uk
Department: School of Engineering (ENG)
Course overview
Whether we like it or not, global economic growth is highly dependent on the long-term supply of oil and gas, and therefore petroleum engineers play a very important role. Currently, there is a major international shortage of qualified engineers in the petroleum industry and this new course is designed to give you a broad range knowledge of all sectors so you can take advantage of the exciting and highly rewarding career prospects in this area.
Petroleum engineers are involved in all the phases of finding (exploration), drilling and extracting the oil from the subsurface reservoirs, through to its transportation to the surface facilities and petroleum refinery, and the distribution. Due to the remote locations of many oil reserves (both onshore and offshore) and the respective oil processing plants, petroleum engineers travel extensively while working with the domestic and multinational oil companies operating all over the world. Petroleum engineers also earn the highest average starting salary amongst graduate engineers (2010 NACE, SPE survey).
The subsurface activities of exploration and production represent the upstream sector, wherein petroleum engineers perform the following roles:
- Drilling Engineers: drilling of the hydrocarbon exploratory, production and injection wells
- Reservoir Engineers: optimisation of oil and gas production through the appropriate well placement, enhanced oil recovery and reservoir simulation prediction techniques
- Production Engineers: application of proper artificial lift, well stimulation, fracturing, well engineering and completion techniques
- Mud Logger, Drilling Fluid Engineers or Facilities/Surface Engineers
Petroleum engineers may also specialise in areas such as environmental safety regulations or they can move into areas such as entrepreneurship and consulting.
The aim of this course is to equip students with the skills, knowledge and understanding necessary for successful careers in the petroleum industry and its associated service sector. By underpinning the fundamental aspects of the above areas, the course has also been designed to provide graduates with the opportunity to undertake postgraduate studies within the field.
Career focused
The entrance criteria of this degree have been designed to comply with the requirements of the major engineering graduate programmes. Competent students can have the opportunity to apply their skills to real-life practical problems as part of the department’s partnership scheme with charities, local and global organisations. Please view the 'Career prospects' section for further details.
To find out more about placement opportunities in the Faculty of Technology, please visit our Placements Office pages.
Course content
This will be a three-year full-time course or a four-year course including the foundation year. Students will study a variety of topics, some with a particular focus on petroleum engineering and others of a more general engineering and geology nature.
Foundation year
Introduction to the Oil Industry and Petroleum Engineering Electrical Engineering Engineering Design Engineering Materials Engineering Mathematics Engineering Principles Introduction to Use of IT
Year one
- Introduction to Petroleum Engineering
- Earth Materials
- How Earth Works
- Thermofluid Mechanics
- Solid Mechanics and Dynamics
- Electrical and Electronic Principles
- Engineering Mathematics 1
- Communication and Business
Year two
- Reservoir Engineering
- Drilling Engineering
- Petroleum Refining Operations
- Energy Engineering
- Engineering Mathematics 2
- Instrumentation and Control
- Structural Geology and Geophysics
Year three
- Individual Project
- Petroleum Production Engineering
- Petroleum Reservoir Simulation
- Geotectonics (including fieldwork)
- Integrated Engineering Group Business Project
- DL Project Management
Teaching and assessment
By coming to the University of Portsmouth you will experience a lively and modern learning environment. We have a long and distinguished record of running very successful courses and pride ourselves on working at the leading edge of technology and learning methods.
We also have a reputation for providing a supportive and friendly atmosphere in which our students can quickly settle and enjoy their studies. Academic, technical and administrative staff are very experienced in providing support to students, and help and guidance are readily available through a strong system of personal and subject tutors.
The course will be taught through lectures, laboratory work and fieldwork, supported by tutorials and online resources. There will also be a number of field visits within the UK. Assessment will be partly by examination and partly by coursework. The course ends with a major individual project, allowing you to bring together the various strands of the course.
Career prospects
Placement opportunities
In the Faculty of Technology we feel that students should be given as many opportunities as possible to gain meaningful work experience and build employability skills throughout their studies to make them more attractive to future employers.
Working with other University services, the Faculty’s Student Placement and Employability Centre (SPEC) ensure students have access to a range of volunteering and work experience opportunities, including year-long industrial placements (either in the UK or your home country), and provide support for the different types of application processes.
To find out more about how you can gain work experience whilst studying BEng (Hons) Petroleum Engineering, please visit our Placements Office pages.
Graduate roles
The main areas in which graduates are likely to work include:
- petroleum exploration
- reservoir engineering, simulation and performance management
- drilling and production engineering
- drilling fluid analysis
- mud/wireline logging (formation evaluation)
- petroleum refinery operations
There are also employment opportunities in related areas such as equipment manufacture and supply, consultancy and regulation.
Facilities and features
You will have easy access to a wide range of powerful multimedia computers equipped with the latest software, as well as contact with knowledgeable, enthusiastic and highly motivated staff. Academic staff maintain close links with industry, both in Portsmouth and further afield. This ensures that our courses reflect the current and future needs of commerce and industry.
The School of Engineering and the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences (partner department for this course) have state-of-the-art laboratory facilities/infrastructure, drilling engineering equipment and reservoir simulation software and free access to our electronic library of technical papers.
You will also have access to University-wide resources, including our student support services and our newly extended library, which houses an excellent collection of journals and books.
Professional links
The course will be submitted to the Institution of Mechanical Engineers for Charted Engineers Status accreditation.