Strategic direction
The Mission of the Department of Petroleum Engineering is to be regarded as a world-class provider of teaching and research in all areas of sub-surface petroleum engineering, through a blend of lectures and practicals which are industrially focused.
The Oil & Gas Industry
The importance of the oil and gas industry to the economy of Western Australia cannot be over-stated. The scale of investment and the direct and indirect impact make it difficult to place an exact figure on its value but it is generally acknowledged to be a major driver of both the State and the Australian economy.
The total investment in Western Australian-based offshore petroleum assets to date is in excess of $50 billion. Current expansion plans for the industry indicate that a similar sum will be spent over the next 5 years or so. Petroleum production is valued annually at more than $6billion and is expected to increase to A$8billion per year by 2012.
Research has shown that over half of the growth in the Western Australian economy is being driven by developments in the resources industry, of which 25% can be attributed to the hydrocarbon sector.
As a result the Department of Petroleum Engineering is developing its vision of being the preferred centre of excellence in petroleum engineering teaching and research in the Asia Pacific region, and be recognised worldwide for providing quality Petroleum Engineering graduates to the industry. We are also building a reputation for providing novel, cost effective research solutions to complex engineering problems through a focussed Research & Development program.
The Department is building its competitive advantage by promoting a creative and dynamic working environment through the continuous updating of its teaching and research equipment and through a university staff development program to ensure leading edge capabilities.
An Overview of the Department
The Department of Petroleum Engineering, established in July 1999, offers a unique blend of academic excellence and industrial expertise to the oil and gas industry. Members of the faculty have a proven track record in academia and many years' experience in the petroleum industry. This provides a strong theoretical base coupled with a practical approach to solving real-life industrial problems. Most of the faculty possesses research qualifications at the Doctorate level in subjects that span the pure science and engineering disciplines. This range of talent is used to tackle specific problems of relevance to the petroleum industry and promotes an applied environment for the supervision of Masters and PhD students. A comprehensive teaching program at the Master's level complements these research and development activities. The emphasis is on developing graduates with the skills which industry needs, as quickly as possible. Consequently a large percentage of the time is spent in applying the course material to real oil and gas field data.
The Department's main funding is through industry student sponsorships, fee-paying students, internal funding from the University itself and sponsored industrial research.
Our strategic direction consists of two main themes - Postgraduate Teaching, and Research and Development.
Strategic Alliances
The Department has been very active in establishing strategic alliances with small and medium sized businesses, as well as the recognised major companies in the region. Industry specialists provide regular lectures so that students are kept up-to-date with the latest developments. Also, this type of 'networking' is very useful in the placement of students in the industry. Other substantial linkages include research projects with the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO- the Australian government research laboratories), and the Integrated Reservoir Studies Centre together with Geoquest, Roxar, EPS, and Crocker Data Processing, plus the linkages with the Federally funded Cooperative Research Centre for Greenhouse Gas Technologies (CO2CRC). This latter project, which involves research into the long-term sequestration of CO2, allows us to work alongside other world-class researchers to understand the issues associated with injectivity and relative permeability effects when injecting supercritical CO2 into saline aquifers and depleted oil & gas fields. Future alliances are likely to include Petrobras of Brazil, Shell (SIEP), and Saudi Aramco making us a truly international R&D group.