Course Catalog
Courses Offered
PETR 101, Introduction to Petroleum Engineering
1 credit
1 class hour
Introduction to energy supply and demand. Define reservoir, drilling and production aspects of petroleum engineering. Included are professionalism and ethics in the work environment.
PETR 111, Computer Applications for Petroleum Engineering
1 credit
3 lab hours
Corequisite: MATH 104
Development of algorithms in ExcelTM to solve petroleum engineering problems: gas z‐factor, static and flowing gradients, pump design, well testing functions and others.
PETR 245, 245D, Petroleum Fluids
3 credit
3 class hours
Prerequisites: CHEM 122; MATH 132 Corequisite: PETR 111
Characteristics and properties of reservoir fluids. Representation of fluid property data for computer uses with models and regression.
PETR 245L, Petroleum Fluid Laboratory
1 credit
3 lab hours
Corequisite: PETR 245
Characterize pressure, volume and temperature relationships using virtual simulation and Laboratory measurement of reservoir fluid properties.
PETR 311, Drilling Engineering
3 credit
3 class hours
Prerequisite: ES 216 Corequisite: ES 302
Introduction to drilling engineering through the study of rig equipment functions. Engineering analysis of drill string buoyancy, drilling mud circulation and flow hydraulics, drill string components, and well control. Preliminary discussion of pore and fracture pressure gradients. Well plan profile including drill bit selection, drilling fluid selection, drill string component section, and well control.
PETR 311L, Drilling Mud Laboratory
1 credit
3 lab hours
Corequisite: PETR 311
Basic drilling operations, drilling hydraulics and well control operation using a drillrig simulator. Standard API measurements and design of the properties of drilling fluids.
PETR 345, Reservoir Engineering I
3 credit
3 class hours
Prerequisite: ES 216 Corequisites: PETR 245
Properties of reservoir rocks and homogeneous and multiphase fluid flow in reservoirs. Capillary phenomena, relative permeability, compressibility, and fluid saturation distribution. Material balances. Statistical analysis using regression, probability concepts, and computer applications to reservoir data.
PETR 345L, Reservoir Engineering Laboratory
1 credit
3 lab hours
Corequisite: PETR 345
Laboratory measurement of reservoir fluid/rock properties, core flood tests and experimental data analysis.
PETR 370, Formation Evaluation
3 credit
2 class hours, 3 lab hours
Prerequisites: PHYS 122; PETR 345
Introduction to logging tool principles and operation. Evaluation of reservoir properties and interpretation of open hole well logs. Multiwell correlations with application to volumetric calculations. Lab exercises on reservoir mapping and well log case studies. (Same as ERTH 370)
PETR 411, Advanced Drilling
3 credit
3 class hours
Prerequisite: PETR 311 or consent of instructor
Drilling operations technology with an emphasis on field practices and techniques. Advanced topics including drilling fluids rheology and hydraulics. Mechanics of BHA in vertical and directional holes. Directional well trajectory predictions and design. Modeling of drag and torque. Dynamics of drill string, wellbore measurements, deepwater drilling and heat transfer in wells.
PETR 413, Well Design
3 credit
3 class hours
Corequisite: PETR 311
Details of the development of pore and fracture pressure gradients. Casing depths using pore and fracture pressure gradients plots. Review of engineering analysis for casing string design. Selection of casing, cement class and well cementing equipment and methods. Development of detailed well plan for drilling and completion of oil and gas wells. Directional and horizontal drilling and drill string design.
PETR 424, Production Engineering
3 credit
3 class hours
Prerequisite: PETR 345, ES 216
Elements of producing oil and gas wells. Flow of single and multiphase fluids in vertical and horizontal pipes. Choke performance. Nodal analysis systems approach to well production performance optimization. Production decline analysis using exponential, harmonic, and hyperbolic decline curves applied to actual well production data. Introduction to artificial lift techniques.
PETR 424L, Production Engineering Laboratory
1 credit
3 lab hours
Corequisite: PETR 424
Basic data acquisition system, experimental determination of frictional pressure losses in pipes, comparison of experimental data with published engineering fluid flow data, artificial lift methods, and multiphase flow in wellbores.
PETR 425, Well Completion
3 credit
3 class hours
Prerequisite: PETR 345 Corequisite: PETR 413
Well completion methods. Design and selection of tubing; perforating performance; sand, water and gas control. Introduction to stimulation operations, selection of stimulation techniques, design of acid and hydraulic fracture treatments.
PETR 425L, Well Completions Lab
1 credit
3 lab hours
Prerequisite: PETR 413 Corequisite: PETR 425
The composition, testing, and design of cement slurries and fracturing fluids. Application of hydraulic fracture design using simulation software.
PETR 440, Directional Drilling & Innovative Drilling Methods
3 credit
3 class hours
Prerequisites: PETR 311
Two and three dimensional directional well path design; horizontal drilling; mathematical model deflection tool analysis; 2D and 3D vector application; down‐hole motors and MWD techniques; underbalanced drilling; casing while drilling; coiled‐tubing drilling.
PETR 441, Natural Gas Reservoir Engineering
3 credit
3 class hours
Prerequisite: PETR 345
Estimation of gas reserves for dry and gas condensate reservoirs. Evaluation of deliverability tests and subsequent development of flow equations. Determination of gas recovery from unconventional reservoirs; e.g., coalbed methane, tight gas sands, shales. Strategies for gas field development. Additional work is required at graduate level.
PETR 445, Reservoir Engineering II
3 credit
3 class hours
Prerequisite: PETR 345
Advanced reservoir engineering principles and applications including material balances, decline curve analysis, unsteady flow in porous media, partial penetration, water influx, reservoir heterogeneity, fractional flow, and frontal advance.
PETR 446, Improved Petroleum Recovery
3 credit
3 class hours
Prerequisite: PETR 445 or consent of instructor
Water flooding techniques. Water handling. Injection and production well patterns. Productive techniques for economic operations. Introduction to enhanced oil recovery; polymer, surfactant, thermal and miscible flooding.
PETR 450, Well Testing
3 credit
3 class hours
Prerequisite: PETR 345, MATH 335
Diffusivity equation and solutions for slightly compressible liquids; dimensionless variables; type curves; applications of solutions to buildup, drawdown, multi‐rate, interference, pulse and deliverability tests; extensions to multiphase flow; analysis of hydraulically fractured wells, production data analysis, rate normalized pressure analysis.
PETR 460, Numerical Simulation
3 credit
3 class hours
Prerequisite: PETR 445
Application of finite difference and finite element techniques for solving reservoir engineering problems.
PETR 470, Applied Reservoir Simulation
3 credit
2 class hours , 3 lab hours
Prerequisites: PETR 445
Use reservoir simulator for numerical modeling of petroleum engineering problems beyond classical approaches. Introduction to simulation fundamentals, work with post– and pre‐processing software, design and construct black oil, compositional and thermal models. History matching, predict and optimize well performance.
PETR 471, Reservoir Description
3 credit
3 class hours
Prerequisites: PETR 370, 445; ERTH 460 Corequisite: PETR 424
Offered fall semester
Integration of reservoir, production, and other field data into a comprehensive design project. Development and optimization of multiple design options.
PETR 472, Reservoir Management
3 credit
3 class hours
Prerequisite: PETR 471; ES 316
Offered spring semester
Economic analysis of petroleum‐producing properties; evaluation of reservoir management decisions for oil and gas development; establishing the effect of risk and uncertainty on economic evaluation. Prepare an Authority for Expenditure (AFE) project report.
PETR 478, Petroleum Seminar
variable credit
2 class hours
Prerequisite: Senior standing or consent of instructor
Current topics in petroleum and natural gas engineering. Techniques of oral presentation of research and development data.
PETR 491, Special Problems in Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering
1–3 credit hours as arranged
Prerequisite: Senior standing or consent of instructor
Individual studies in petroleum and natural gas engineering problems of special interest.
PETR 523, Numerical Simulation
3 credit
3 class hours
Prerequisite: PETR 445 or consent of instructor; ability to write a computer program
The simulation of subsurface fluid reservoirs using numerical models.
PETR 524, Fluid Flow in Porous Media
3 credit
3 class hours
Prerequisites: PETR 445 or consent of instructor.
Physical concepts involved in the flow of fluids in porous media; aspects of Darcy’s Law; multiphase flow concepts of relative permeability and capillary pressure.
PETR 532, Advanced Well Stimulation
3 credit
3 class hours
Prerequisite: Consent of instructor
Theories of hydraulic fracturing, mechanics of fracturing, rheology of fracturing fluids, acid fracturing treatment, models for matrix acidizing, evaluation of stimulation operations.
PETR 537, Petroleum‐Related Rock Mechanics
3 credit
3 class hours
Studies of theories and applications of rock mechanics to petroleum engineering. Topics include laboratory measurements of porosity, permeability, and deformation behavior as a function of stress state, in situ stress measurements, wellbore stability, sand control, and reservoir compaction/subsidence.
PETR 541, Natural Gas Reservoir Engineering
3 credit
3 class hours
Prerequisite: PETR 345
Estimation of gas reserves for dry and gas condensate reservoirs. Evaluation of deliverability tests and subsequent development of flow equations. Determination of gas recovery from unconventional reservoirs; e.g., coalbed methane, tight gas sands, shales. Strategies for gas field development. Additional work is required at graduate level.
PETR 544, Advanced Reservoir Engineering
3 credit
3 class hours
Prerequisite: PETR 445 or consent of instructor
Studies of natural water drive reservoirs in finite and infinite aquifers. Transient pressure behavior in heterogeneous reservoirs. Material Balance Equations from advanced viewpoint.
PETR 545, Advanced Production Design
3 credit
3 class hours
Prerequisite: PETR 425 or consent of instructor
Oil and gas well production principles. Flowing well performance, two‐phase vertical flow, theory and design of artificial lift systems.
PETR 546, Advanced Formation Evaluation
3 credit
3 class hours
Prerequisite: PETR 370 or consent of instructor
Study of physical and textural properties of reservoir rocks which provide a link between reservoir engineering and well logging. Advanced exploration and production logging. Estimation of geological environment. Quantitative reservoir evaluation in different lithologies from log data. New logging techniques.
PETR 547, Naturally Fractured Reservoirs
3 credit
3 class hours
Geological characterization and reservoir simulation of naturally fractured reservoirs. Description of natural fractures and fracture systems from surface outcrops, core analysis, log interpretation, and well testing. Fluid‐flow simulation of fractured reservoirs using numerical models.
PETR 548, Reservoir Geomechanics
3 credit
3 class hours
Prerequisites: PETR 445 or consent of instructor
Fundamentals and issues of coupled fluid‐flow/thermal/geomechanics associated with hydrocarbon production. Topics include elasticity, poroelasticity, thermo‐poroelasticity, reservoir stress depletion/rebound, productivity of stress‐sensitive reservoirs, and waterflood‐induced fracturing.
PETR 552, Fluid/Surface Interactions
3 credit
3 class hours
Prerequisite: Consent of instructor
The physics and chemistry of interfaces, focusing on the behavior of multifluid systems both in the presence and absence of solids. How basic interactions among microscopic particles can explain macroscopic phenomena. Application‐oriented, focusing on interactions important in hydrology, petroleum engineering, and environmental engineering. (Same as HYD 552)
PETR 554, Advanced Natural Gas Engineering
3 credit
3 class hours
Prerequisite: PETR 464 or consent of instructor
Gas flow in vertical and inclined pipes, surface facilities, gas processing, overall transportation requirements.
PETR 556, Advanced Drilling
3 credit
3 class hours
Prerequisite: PETR 311
The following topics will be covered in this class: directional and horizontal drilling, drag and torque modeling, advanced wellbore hydraulics, and innovative drilling methods including underbalanced drilling, casing drilling and coil tubing drilling.
PETR 557, Advanced Artificial Lift Methods
3 credit
3 class hours
Prerequisite: PETR 424
Offered Fall Semester
This class will cover most of the common artificial lift methods in oil and gas industry including: Electrical Submersible Pump (ESP), Gas Lift, Rod Sucker Pump, Plunger Lift, and Progressive Cavity Pump.
PETR 558, Advanced Topics in Enhanced Oil Recovery Methods
3 credit
3 class hours
Prerequisite: PETR 446 or consent of instructor
Advanced topics may include surfactant and alkali flooding mechanisms. Polymer flooding and rheology of non‐ Newtonian fluids. Gas injection methods including carbon dioxide, hydrocarbons, and nitrogen. Thermal recovery.
PETR 560, Phase Behavior of Petroleum Fluids
3 credit
3 class hours
Prerequisite: PETR 245 or consent of instructor
Use of equations of state for predicting PVT behavior of complex petroleum fluids. Emphasis on the descriptions of fluids used in simulating gas injection recovery processes and multiphase flow in pipes. Correlations for phase viscosity and interfacial tension.
PETR 564, Advanced Well Testing
3 credit
3 class hours
Prerequisite: PETR 370 or consent of instructor
The partial differential equations for liquid and gas flow in porous media, boundary conditions including skin and well‐bore storage effects. Applications of Laplace transformation. Pressure buildup and drawdown tests.
PETR 570, Graduate Seminar
1 credit
2 class hours
Prerequisite: Senior or graduate standing
Presentation and discussion of research ideas. Review of recently published papers/new concepts.
PETR 571, 572, Advanced Topics
2–3 credit hours
2–3 class hours
Offered on demand
Prerequisite: Consent of instructor
Special topics in petroleum and natural gas engineering.
PETR 581, Directed Study
1–3 credits each semester
Prerequisite: Consent of instructor
Research and literature survey as directed by advisor on subjects of interest pertaining to petroleum and natural gas engineering.
PETR 590, Independent Study
1–3 credits
Independent research organized and conducted by the student under the direction of the student’s advisor. Written final report and oral presentation required.
PETR 591, Thesis (master’s program)
Credit hours to be arranged
PETR 595, Dissertation (doctoral degree program)
Credit hours to be arranged
Prerequisite: Successful completion of PhD candidacy exam and Academic Advisor recommendation for candidacy.