The Bob L. Herd Department of Petroleum Engineering is known for working with Permian operators in consortiums to address industry challenges, while also ensuring that the solutions assist in maintaining a healthy environment. It has a rich history of delivering enhanced oil recovery solutions from the geological, reservoir, production engineering, and facilities perspectives. Additionally, our department addresses produced water and emissions challenges to ensure a clean environment.

There is a variety of ongoing research in the department such as EOR, reserves and economics, drilling and completions, data analytics, production optimization, and integrated reservoir characterization. In our EOR lab, we have studied a variety of techniques to recover incremental oil in shale reservoirs including CO2 and many other types of gas injection.

We are proud of our 42,000 square foot Terry Fuller Petroleum Engineering Research Building that opened in February 2014. Our building holds 8 research labs, 2 teaching labs, 3 state-of-the-art classrooms, student collaboration rooms, and office space. We have established a 10-acre Oilfield Technology Center with a one-of-a-kind, 4,000-foot test well. Currently, 240 students are enrolled in our ABET-accredited undergraduate program and 59 students are enrolled in our graduate program. The Bob L. Herd Department of Petroleum Engineering's undergraduate petroleum engineering program is ranked 4th in the nation, while our graduate program is ranked 9th in the nation with the U.S. News and World Report.