PDF version of this chapterPetroleum Engineering
Hedco Building 316
(213) 740-0322
FAX: (213) 740-0324
Email: peteng@usc.edu
http://www.usc.edu/dept/peteng/
Director: Iraj Ershaghi, Ph.D., P.E.
Faculty
Zohrab A. Kaprielian Dean's Chair in Engineering: Yannis C. Yortsos, Ph.D. (Chemical Engineering)Omar B. Milligan Chair in Petroleum Engineering: Iraj Ershaghi, Ph.D., P.E. (Chemical Engineering)
Professor: George V. Chilingar, Ph.D. (Civil Engineering)
Lecturers: Alejandro Bugacov, Ph.D.; Robert Ehrlich, Ph.D.; Donald G. Hill, Ph.D.; Allan Spivak, Ph.D.; Jalal Torabzadeh, Ph.D.; Malvina Val Lerma, M.S.; Victor M. Ziegler, Ph.D.
Emeritus Professor: Elmer L. Dougherty, Ph.D. (Chemical Engineering)
Petroleum Engineering Honor Society:
Pi Epsilon TauDegree Requirements
Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering (Petroleum Engineering)
See the listing under Chemical Engineering.Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering (Petroleum Engineering)
See the listing under Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering.Minor in Petroleum Engineering
A minor in petroleum engineering consisting of 16 required units is available to undergraduate majors in various fields of engineering and applied science. Besides preparing for graduate study in petroleum engineering, the program will prepare students for careers in areas of national need such as the exploration, recovery and production of subterranean resources, and the underground disposal of hazardous wastes.Prerequisite courses:
MATH 125, MATH 126, MATH 226, MATH 245, PHYS 151L and CHEM 105aL
CE 309
| Required courses | Units | |
|---|---|---|
| PTE 461 | Formation Evaluation | 3 |
| PTE 462 | Economic, Risk and Formation Productivity Analysis | 4 |
| PTE 463L | Introduction to Transport Processes in Porous Media | 3 |
| PTE 464L | Petroleum Reservoir Engineering | 3 |
| PTE 465L | Drilling Technology and Subsurface Methods | 3 |
| 16 | ||
Master of Science in Petroleum Engineering
The Master of Science in Petroleum Engineering is awarded in strict conformity with the general requirements of the Viterbi School of Engineering. A student may be permitted to elect the program without thesis upon approval from the department.Master of Science in Petroleum Engineering/Smart Oilfield Technologies
The Master of Science in Petroleum Engineering/Smart Oilfield Technologies is awarded in strict conformity with the general requirements of the Viterbi School of Engineering. A student may be permitted to elect the program without thesis upon approval from the department. Course requirements are similar to the existing M.S. degree in Petroleum Engineering in terms of core requirements.Certificate in Smart Oilfield Technologies
The Certificate in Smart Oilfield Techniques is designed for practicing engineers and scientists who enter petroleum engineering related fields and/or who wish to obtain training in the specific smart oilfields area. The applicants may enroll at USC as limited status students. They must apply and be admitted to the program before they complete 9 units of the required course work. The certificate program is open to applicants with an undergraduate degree in engineering or sciences who meet the admission criteria as limited students. The required courses consist of the following 12 units:| Required courses | Units | |
|---|---|---|
| PTE 586 | Intelligent and Collaborative Oilfield Systems Characterization and Management | 3 |
| PTE 587 | Smart Completions, Oilfield Sensors and Sensor Technology | 3 |
| PTE 588 | Smart Oilfield Data Mining | 3 |
| PTE 589 | Advanced Oilfield Operations with Remote Visualization and Control | 3 |
These classes will be available through the USC Distance Education Network (DEN). The credit for classes may be applied toward the M.S. or Ph.D. in Petroleum Engineering should the student decide later to pursue an advanced degree. In order to be admitted to the M.S. program, the student should maintain a B average or higher in courses for the certificate program and must satisfy all normal admission requirements. All courses for the certificate must be taken at USC.
Engineer in Petroleum Engineering
Requirements for the Engineer degree in Petroleum Engineering are the same as set forth in the general requirements. See general requirements for graduate degrees.Doctor of Philosophy
The Doctor of Philosophy with a major in petroleum engineering is also offered. See general requirements for graduate degrees.Courses of Instruction
Petroleum Engineering (PTE)
The terms indicated are expected but are not guaranteed . For the courses offered during any given term, consult the Schedule of Classes.
202xg Energy and Society (4, Irregular) Study of the impact of the development, production, and global distribution of energy on societal, political, and economic behavior. Not available for major credit to engineering majors. Prerequisite: pass Math Skill Level.
390 Special Problems (1-4) Supervised, individual studies. No more than one registration permitted. Enrollment by petition only.
411x Introduction to Transport Processes in Porous Media (3, Fa) Properties of porous rocks; capillary effect, single phase and multiphase flow through porous media; diffusion and dispersion, miscible displacement, heat transfer. Lecture, 3 hours. Not available for credit to Petroleum Engineering majors. Prerequisite: MATH 245, CHEM 105aL or CHEM 115aL , PHYS 151L, CE 309.
412x Petroleum Reservoir Engineering (3, Fa) Properties of reservoir fluids, volumetric and material balances for gas and oil reservoirs; reservoir modeling concepts. Lecture, 3 hours. Not available for credit to Petroleum Engineering majors.
461 Formation Evaluation (3, Fa) Concepts of petroleum geology, interpretation of downhole surveys and measurements including well logs, MWD, mud logs and samples. Corequisite: PTE 463L.
462 Economic, Risk and Formation Productivity Analysis (4, Sp) Principle of economic evaluation, risk analysis, reserves estimation, decline curves, energy prices, and well transients for flow prediction. Prerequisite: PTE 461.
463L Introduction to Transport Processes in Porous Media (3, Fa) Properties of porous rocks; capillarity effect, single-phase and multiphase flow through porous media; diffusion and dispersion, miscible displacement, heat transfer. Lecture, 3 hours; laboratory, 3 hours. Prerequisite: MATH 245, CHEM 105aL or CHEM 115aL , PHYS 151L.
464L Petroleum Reservoir Engineering (3, Sp) Properties of reservoir fluids, volumetric and material balances for gas and oil reservoirs; reservoir modeling concepts. Lecture, 3 hours; laboratory, 3 hours. Prerequisite: PTE 463L.
465L Drilling Technology and Subsurface Methods (3, Fa) Theory and practice in drilling technology; mechanical properties of reservoir rocks; well completion; acidizing and fracturing, oil production technology. Lecture, 3 hours; laboratory, 3 hours. Prerequisite: PTE 464L.
490x Directed Research (2-8, max 8) Individual research and readings. Not available for graduate credit. Prerequisite: departmental approval.
499 Special Topics (2-4, max 8) Course content to be selected each semester from recent developments in petroleum engineering and related fields.
502 Applied Well Logging (3, Sp) Modern well logs from both open and cased holes, and methods for analyzing them to obtain information on reservoir rock properties and fluid saturations. Corequisite: PTE 506.
507 Engineering and Economic Evaluation of Subsurface Reservoirs (3, Fa) Studies, data and methods for estimating size of underground fluid deposits for predicting physical and economic behavior of designed flow schemes, and for quantifying uncertainty. Prerequisite: PTE 464L.
508 Numerical Simulation of Subsurface Flow and Transport Processes (3, Sp) Formulation and solution of the equations describing the underground flow of fluids through porous media. Includes mass (contaminant) transport in single and multiphase flow. Prerequisite: PTE 507 or graduate standing in engineering.
514 Drilling Engineering (2, 2 years, Fa) Rock mechanics; rotary drilling processes; bit selection; optimizing bit weight and rotational speed; well hydraulics and control; casing design and cementing; directional and offshore drilling.
517 Testing of Wells and Aquifers (3, Sp) Principles of well testing; down hole device; Aquifer tests; slug tests; DST; pressure transient modeling in homogeneous and heterogeneous systems; parameter estimation; computer aided techniques. Prerequisite: PTE 464L.
531 Enhanced Oil Recovery (3, 2 years, Sp) This course surveys current enhanced oil recovery processes, including water-flooding, miscible displacement, and thermal oil recovery. Prerequisite: PTE 507.
542 Carbonate Rocks (2, Irregular) Classification; porosity development; source rocks; wettability; capillary pressure curves; compressibility; surface areas; relative permeabilities; various petrophysical properties; formation evaluation; overpressures; thin section analysis.
545 Corrosion Control in Petroleum Production (2, Irregular) Types of corrosion encountered in petroleum production; methods for practical control including use of inhibitors, coatings, and cathodic protection. Prerequisite: CHEM 430a.
555 Well Completion, Stimulation, and Damage Control (3) This course reviews current practices related to well completion methods, wellbore stimulation, and damage control. Formation damage prevention and stimulation methods are emphasized. Prerequisite: graduate standing.
572 Engineering Geostatistics (2, Irregular) Use of geostatistical methods for exploration and development of mineral and petroleum resources, application of semivariogram, kriging, cokriging, nonlinear and parametric estimation and conditional stimulation. Prerequisite: graduate standing; knowledge of statistics or departmental approval.
578 Advanced Production Engineering (2, 2 years, Sp) Principles of oil well and gas well production; design of artificial lift systems and surface operations; field problems of enhanced oil recovery operations.
581 Environmental Technology in the Petroleum Industry (3, 2 years, Fa) This course examines engineering and scientific principles necessary for understanding, assessing, and remediating environmental problems in the petroleum industry including drilling, production, transportation and refining operations. Prerequisite: graduate standing.
582 Fluid Flow and Transport Processes in Porous Media (3, 2 years, Fa) Principles of single and multiphase flow through porous media; mechanisms of immiscible and miscible displacement; momentum, heat and mass transport in porous media.
586 Intelligent and Collaborative Oilfield Systems Characterization and Management (3, Fa) Review of soft computing methods such as neural networks, fuzzy logic, problematic reasoning in reservoir characterization, dynamic reservoir modeling, oilfield data integration and analysis of uncertainty in prediction. Limited to students with graduate standing. Recommended preparation: prerequisites for non-majors.
587 Smart Completions, Oilfield Sensors and Sensor Technology (3, Sp) Intelligent Wellbore completion, technology of subsurface and surface sensors, deployment and data acquisition, telemonitoring and feedback, reliability of sensors, data transmission, systems networks. Recommended preparation: prerequisites for non-majors.
588 Smart Oilfield Data Mining (3, Fa) Methods for oilfield data mining, data preparation mining images, prediction and knowledge discovery, subset selection, pattern recognition. Limited to students with graduate standing. Recommended preparation: prerequisites for non-majors.
589 Advanced Oilfield Operations with Remote Immersive Visualization and Control (3, Sp) Immersive subsurface and surface environments, web based monitoring and feedback, visualizing risk, unattended operation. Limited to students with graduate standing. Recommended preparation: prerequisites for non-majors.
590 Directed Research (1-12) Research leading to the master's degree. Maximum units which may be applied to the degree to be determined by the department. Graded CR/NC.
594abz Master's Thesis (2-2-0) For the master's degree. Credit on acceptance of thesis. Graded IP/CR/NC.
599 Special Topics (2-4, max 9) Course content will be selected each semester to reflect current trends and developments in the field of petroleum engineering.
690 Directed Research (1-4) Laboratory study of specific problems for candidates for the degree engineer in petroleum engineering. Graded CR/NC.
790 Research (1-12) Research leading to the doctorate. Maximum units which may be applied to the degree to be determined by the department. Graded CR/NC.
794abcdz Doctoral Dissertation (2-2-2-2-0) Credit on acceptance of dissertation. Graded IP/CR/NC.