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. Prerequisite: PTE 464L.

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, CE 309 or CHE 443.

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.

478L Surface Operations in Petroleum Production (3) Vapor-liquid equilibria for hydrocarbons; gas-oil separation; methods for measuring gas and oil production; corrosion control. Lecture, 3 hours; laboratory, 3 hours. Prerequisite: 464L.

480 Natural Gas Engineering (3) Reserve estimates for gas and condensate reservoirs; gas well performance; gas flow in transmission lines; gas storage fields; liquefied natural gas. Prerequisite: PTE 464L or PTE 412x.

487 Geothermal Reservoirs (3) Exploration methods for geothermal reservoirs including geological, hydrological surveys and geochemical methods; formation evaluation, reservoir engineering, and production problems of vapor and liquid dominated systems. Prerequisite: PTE 464L or PTE 412x.

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.

504 Drilling Mud Technology (2, 2 years, Fa) Functions and physical, chemical, and colloidal properties of drilling fluids; chemical treatment, mechanical effects, flow characteristics, test procedures, interpretation, and economics.

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.

509 Computer Applications in Petroleum Engineering (2) Computational algorithms for petroleum engineering applications; techniques of database management, pre- and post-processing of reservoir simulation; computer based interpretation of well logs and well tests. Prerequisite: PTE 464L, FORTRAN.

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.

534 Petroleum Contaminated Soils and Aquifers (2, Irregular) Principles governing the characterization, fate and transport of petroleum products in the subsurface, detection of LNAPL and DNAPL, remediation technologies, numerical modeling and prediction techniques. Prerequisite: graduate standing.

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.

543 Carbonate Reservoirs (2, Irregular) Classification of reservoirs; performance; fluid flow; fractures and fractured reservoirs; chalk reservoirs; estimation of reserves; secondary and enhanced recovery; gas reservoirs; simulation; stimulation.

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.

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.

598 Reservoir Management (2) Principles of reservoir management, reservoir characterization, advanced concepts in geophysical modeling, geostatistics, geological models, special core analysis, production systems, simulation process, reservoir development planning. Graduate standing required.

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.

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