Key information
- Level
- Postgraduate Taught
- Delivery type
- Full Time
- Degree qualification
- MSc
- Mode of delivery
- On-Campus
- Duration
- 1 year
- Location
- Edinburgh
- Start date
- September, January
MSc Petroleum Engineering equips you with knowledge and skills to work internationally in the oil and gas industry to the standard required. It will appeal to science and engineering graduates or those of you from a different numerate academic background who are interested in developing sustainable oil and gas assets to meet global energy and resource demands.
You’ll develop skills in the fundamental concepts, theories, and principles of the main petroleum engineering and geoscience disciplines which are:
-
Reservoir engineering
-
Petroleum geology
-
Drilling engineering
-
Formation evaluation
-
Reservoir simulation
-
Petroleum economics
-
Production technology
-
Well test analysis
You’ll use leading computer software tools for design and analysis, integrate theory into practice, and understand the ethics and standards involved in professional engineering practice, using your knowledge to problem solve in a variety of contexts.
As a graduate, you will be able to join an oil company asset team as a productive member and be able to apply your learning to real oilfield problems. Your studies will also provide you with multiple transferrable skills that may be of use for carbon storage and subsurface energy exploitation.
Your student experience
Your learning will be informed by experts in geoenergy engineering and applied geoscience from our Institute of GeoEnergy Engineering at the Edinburgh campus, part of Heriot-Watt’s School of Energy, Geoscience, Infrastructure and Society. The School is one of the United Kingdom’s leading institutions for multidisciplinary research and teaching in areas critical to economic development and societal equity.
The research relevance of this postgraduate programme ensures your studies remain innovative and industry focused.
Go Global
With Go Global, Heriot-Watt's global student programme, you can carry your studies to new places and experience new cultures, expanding your horizons on the way. You'll discover what it means to be a true global citizen and emerge prepared for wherever your career journey will take you.
Inter-Campus Transfer: Dubai
Inter-Campus Transfer: Malaysia
Course content
September Intake- Edinburgh
Mandatory September
- Drilling Engineering
- Formation Evaluation
- Geoscience with Integrated Data Science
- Reservoir Engineering
Mandatory January
- Petroleum Economics
- Production Technology
- Reservoir Simulation
- Reservoir Engineering - Well test Analysis
Mandatory May
- Field Development Project
- Individual Project
January Intake - Edinburgh
Mandatory January
- Reservoir Engineering - Well test Analysis
- Reservoir Simulation
- Production Technology
- Petroleum Economics
Mandatory September
- Drilling Engineering
- Formation Evaluation
- Geoscience with Integrated Data Science
- Reservoir Engineering
Mandatory Second January
- Field Development Project
- Individual Project
Programme Video
Video - MSc Petroleum Engineering
Fees and funding
| Status | Full Time |
|---|---|
| UK | £13,000 |
| International | £29,960 |
- Status: Your residency status is usually defined as the country where you have been ordinarily resident for the three years before the start of your course.
- International: 'International' includes applicants from European Union countries who do not hold Pre-Settled or Settled status in UK. (This does not include students from the Republic of Ireland - see above).
Additional information
All course costs are covered by the tuition fee. This includes full electronic versions of the course notes, core text books, field trips and any day trips arranged as part of the course.
Scholarships and bursaries
Postgraduate scholarships and bursaries
We aim to encourage well-qualified, ambitious students to study with us and we offer a wide variety of scholarships and bursaries to achieve this. Over £6 million worth of opportunities are available in fee and stipend scholarships, and more than 400 students benefit from this support.
Entry requirements
We have standard entry requirements for all of our courses that you will have to meet.
A minimum of a 2:2 honours degree, or its non-UK equivalent in an engineering subject or a physical or earth science discipline, including evidence of a good understanding of mathematics. Degrees in chemistry, maths, physics, geology or computing may also be considered with demonstrable maths ability.
In addition, work or project experience in a related company role will be taken into consideration, please include your CV as part of your application.
Why Heriot-Watt
We're the top university in Scotland for graduate outcomes which means that more of our graduates are employed or in postgraduate education than any other institution in the country and we ranked 5th in the UK.
We're also rated number one in the UK for CEO or MD roles, meaning more of our graduates go on to become CEOs or MDs than any other university in the whole of the UK. On top of that, we have beautiful campuses, across the globe, so you'll get a truly international education. Our Edinburgh Campus is home to Oriam, Scotland's National Sports Performance Centre combined with plenty of wellbeing resources, prioritising fitness and mental health for all students. Our Global Research Institutes look at solving real world issues such as climate change and saving our oceans as well as working on the next medical technological breakthrough and the future of AI and robots.
Employability
Graduates of the Petroleum Engineering programme are much sought after by oil operating and oilfield service companies both in the UK and worldwide. Graduates go on to work for major global oil and gas operating companies, service companies as well as smaller consultancies in petroleum engineering. The programme also provides an excellent springboard for graduates wishing to pursue a career in research. Graduate profiles Read our graduate profiles to find out what some of our recent graduates said about their experiences studying Petroleum Engineering at Heriot-Watt.
Student life
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