Postgraduate teaching
Master of Petroleum Engineering (M Pet Eng)
From 2009 onwards, the well-known Masters in Petroleum Engineering will change from being taught in block form to being taught on a semester basis, with four units taught per semester. The Masters program will be 18 month's long and a feature of the course which has 11 taught units is a comprehensive Masters project for industry with a project report to be presented by the student at the end of the final six months.
Four 25-credit units are taught per semester resulting in 100 credits per semester, and students must complete three semesters or 300 credits in total to receive the Master of Petroleum Engineering award. In the event that students have completed 200 credits (two semesters) but are not succeeding in their studies as well as they would wish, they may be offered the intermediate award of Postgraduate Diploma in Petroleum Engineering (PGD Pet Eng).
The core units are Applied Geology and Geophysics; Drilling Engineering; Fundamentals of Reservoir Engineering; Hydrocarbon Phase Behaviour; Formation Evaluation; Advanced Reservoir Engineering; Production Technology; Reservoir Management; Field Performance Evaluation and Simulation Project; Exploration, Appraisal and Field Development Project.
The Optional Units comprise Well Testing and Interpretation; Numerical Reservoir Simulation; Hydrocarbon Processing; Risk and Uncertainty; Petroleum Economics; Health, Safety and Environment; Reservoir Characterisation; Production Optimisation; Stimulation Technology and Enhanced Oil Recovery.
Master of Science Petroleum Engineering (MSc Pet Eng)
From 2009 onwards, in order to expand our research program and to allow Masters students to take a research project, the Master of Science Petroleum Engineering program is offered to students who demonstrate the capacity to perform original research. This means an additional semester encompassing an industrial research project and thesis.
The thesis may be in an area of the student's choice or may be in an area which is of interest to both the student and industry. As a result of this thesis component and the two year duration, taking the MSc Pet Eng allows international students to apply for Australian permanent residency status. Consequently this course is attractive to international students wishing to join the Australian oil and gas industry immediately on completion of their MSc Pet Eng.
It is an aim of the teaching program to ensure that all successful candidates will be able to work in the upstream oil and gas industry with a minimum amount of supervision. The department's professional teaching staff, with its many years of industrial experience, will ensure that this aim is achieved.