Department of Petroleum
Engineering

Roy Butler Professor John J. Day, Chairperson.

Livermore Professor Davis; Watford Associate Professor Heinze; Assistant Professor Frailey.

This department offers study in the following degree program: PETROLEUM ENGINEERING, Master of Science in Petroleum Engineering.

The department is staffed with industry-experienced faculty who have an average of more than 15 years of experience per faculty member. This experience is combined with sound engineering and scientific principles in the classroom and made an integral part of the candidate's educational challenge. Also, the department is located in a geographical area that produces 20 percent of the nation's oil and gas. This proximity provides the student with unique opportunities for directly interfacing with industry while still a student and observing oil field operations first hand.

Graduate studies in petroleum engineering prepare the engineer to assume responsibility in technical and managerial areas within the oil and gas industry. Historically, the graduate petroleum engineer can expect to be challenged quickly and in areas of strong potential for personal and professional growth. Candidates with superior skills and the desire to progress within the industry can expect to be successful. The Petroleum Engineering Department at Texas Tech prepares the advanced student with the technical skills required to meet those challenges.

The master's program requires 33 graduate credit hours above the baccalaureate degree, including 6 credit hours allowed for the thesis. At least 18 credit hours of petroleum engineering courses are required in addition to the thesis. Additional credit hours of other engineering, mathematics, or science will be allowed when approved by the candidate's advisory committee and graduate advisor. The department also offers a nonthesis master's program that requires 36 approved graduate credit hours. The graduate program for each candidate is specifically tailored for that candidate's educational background, industry experience, and individual interest.

Qualified students with a B.S. or B.A. degree in any field may enter the M.S. program in petroleum engineering by completing without graduate credit leveling work as needed in physics, chemistry, mathematics, geology, and basic engineering courses. The details of the leveling program will be worked out on an individual basis by the graduate advisor, and the length of the program will depend on the student's background.

Courses in Petroleum Engineering. (PETR)

5000. Studies in Advanced Petroleum Engineering Topics (V1-6). An individual study course. Nature of course depends on student's interests and needs. May be repeated for credit on different topics.

5121. Graduate Seminar (1:1:0). Discussions of Petroleum Engineering research and special industry problems. Required each semester for all graduate students. May be repeated for credit.

5303. Advanced Drilling Techniques (3:3:0). Prerequisite: PETR 3307 or consent of instructor. A unified treatment of all aspects of well planning and the optimization of oil and gas drilling processes.

5304. Advanced Well Log Analysis (3:3:0). Prerequisite: PETR 3304 or consent of instructor. Methods of analyzing various types of well logs to obtain quantitative hydrocarbon reservoir parameters.

5306. Advanced Artificial Lift Methods (3:3:0). Prerequisite: Consent of instructor. Study of the design and analysis of current mechanisms for lifting oil from the reservoir to surface facilities including optimization theory.

5307. Enhanced Oil Recovery (3:3:0). Prerequisite: Consent of instructor. Fundamental relations governing the displacement of oil in petroleum reservoirs and methods for predicting oil recovery by miscible and immiscible displacement.

5308. Pressure Transient Analysis (3:3:0). Prerequisite: MATH 3350, PETR 4308, or consent of instructor. Theory of transient fluid flow in petroleum reservoirs and applications of methods to interpret transient pressure behavior.

5309. Hydrocarbon Reservoir Simulation (3:3:0). Prerequisite: MATH 3350 or consent of instructor. The development of unsteady state fluid flow equations for hydrocarbon reservoirs and the application of finite difference methods to obtain solutions to the equations.

5310. Advanced Simulation Techniques (3:3:0). Prerequisite: PETR 5309. Treatment of advanced concepts of reservoir simulation for multidimensional, multiphase flow in hydrocarbon reservoirs.

5311. Thermal Oil Recovery (3:3:0). Prerequisite: Consent of instructor. Study of the recovery of oil by thermal methods, including steam injection and in situ combustion.

5313. Numerical Applications in Petroleum Engineering (3:3:0). Prerequisite: Consent of instructor. Least squares, solving first and second order partial differential equations; backward, central, forward difference solutions, matrix, Gaussian, Adams, Rung-Kutta solutions.

6000. Master's Thesis (V1-12).

7000. Research (V1-12).


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LAST UPDATE: 11-20-98