Texas A&M University Graduate Catalog 2003-2004 Edition

Harold Vance Department of Petroleum Engineering

R. A. Archer, W. B. Ayers, M.A.Barrufet, T.A.Blasingame, C. H. Bowman, D. B. Burnett, J. C. Calhoun, Jr., P. B. Crawford, A. Datta-Gupta, J. L. Gidley, S. A. Holditch, J. L. Jensen, H. C. Juvkam-Wold (Interim Head), W. J.Lee, D.D.Mamora, W. D. McCain, D. A. McVay, L. D. Piper, J. E. Russell, D. S. Schechter, S. L. Scott, R. A. Startzman*, P. P. Valko, R. A. Wattenbarger, R.L.Whiting

* Graduate Advisor

The Department of Petroleum Engineering offers graduate degree programs and course work at both the master's and doctoral levels. The graduate program in Petroleum Engineering at Texas A&M University is recognized for excellence in teaching and research both nationally and internationally, and this program is consistently rated as one of the best graduate programs in Petroleum Engineering by U.S. News and World Report.

Degree Programs

The Department offers the traditional MS and PhD degrees which emphasize technical skills and research capabilities. The Department also offers the MEng and DEng degrees which emphasize practical engineering skills, as well as business and management practices.

MS Degree Program.

The MS degree program requires a minimum of 32 semester hours beyond the baccalaureate (BS) degree. The student typically devotes three-fourths of these hours to Petroleum Engineering graduate courses (including thesis-related research) and one-fourth to graduate courses taught in other departments, such as Mathematics, Statistics, Computer Science, Business and Geology/Geophysics. A thesis is required for the MS degree.

MEng Degree Program.

The MEng degree program requires a minimum of 30 semester hours beyond the baccalaureate (BS) degree, where, similar to the MS degree, approximately two-thirds of the hours are Petroleum Engineering courses and one-third are taken outside the department. A summary report is required for the MEng degree.

Several areas of interest are offered within this degree program.

International Petroleum Management. This area of interest is offered in cooperation with the Mays Business School. Students receive the MEng degree and a certificate of completion from the Graduate School of Business.

Institut Francais du Petrole (IFP). This area of interest is offered in cooperation with the IFP. Students are required to study in France for 2 semesters in addition to their time of study at Texas A&M and will receive separate degrees from both institutions. Two separate programs are available at IFP. One program has a business emphasis, while the other focuses on technology in reservoir geoscience. Admission to programs at IFP are made by application to IFP, independent of admission to Texas A&M.

Distance Learning. The MEng degree also is offered via Distance Learning. Due to the large component of independent study required, the MEng via Distance Education is presently limited to those persons with a baccalaureate (BS) degree in Petroleum Engineering, or those with a baccalaureate (BS) degree in another discipline of Engineering, but who also have extensive experience in the recognized practice of Petroleum Engineering.

PhD Degree Program.

The PhD degree program requires a minimum of 96 semester hours beyond the baccalaureate (BS) degree. Students in the PhD program devote at least one-third of their time to Petroleum Engineering courses, approximately one-third to research and approximately one-third to courses outside the Department. A dissertation is required for the PhD degree.

DEng Degree Program.

The DEng degree program requires a minimum of 96 hours beyond the baccalaureate (BS) degree, which includes 80 hours of course work and 16 hours of a professional internship. A record of study is required for the DEng degree.

Students entering the Graduate Program in Petroleum Engineering with degrees in areas other than Petroleum Engineering will likely be required to take prerequisite courses at the undergraduate level. These courses are required to provide proficiency in Petroleum Engineering skills and to ensure academic success in graduate course work.

Teaching and Research

Current areas of teaching and research include drilling and drilling fluids, well logging, well stimulation, rock mechanics, core analysis and flow imaging, formation damage, formation evaluation, horizontal and extended reach wells, transport phenomena in petroleum reservoirs, production and well test data analysis, field-scale reservoir studies, reservoir characterization, reservoir simulation, improved oil and gas recovery, economic evaluation and reservoir management. New areas of research include integrated geological studies/modelling, geostatistical reservoir modelling, symbolic/numeric computation, streamline flow simulation, enhanced thermal recovery, interpretation of naturally fractured reservoirs, correlation of PVT behavior, multiphase flow in pumps and meters, leak detection in flowlines, ultra-deepwater blowout modelling, and riserless (deepwater) drilling technologies.

The Department's research facilities include laboratories for drilling, petrophysical analysis, formation evaluation, well stimulation, production engineering, reservoir engineering, reservoir modelling, enhanced oil recovery and reservoir management. The Department also shares research activities and facilities with the Offshore Technology Research Center (OTRC), Chemical Engineering, and Geology and Geophysics.

The Department has a 20-unit open-access PC-laboratory for undergraduate and graduate students, as well as five classroom facilities (three 10-unit classrooms, two 15-unit classrooms). The classroom facilities are open-access at nights/evenings. In addition, the Department also has the Integrated Reservoir Investigations Laboratory (IRIL), where this facility houses UNIX workstations for undergraduate and graduate teaching and research activities.

In addition to Department open-access facilities, most graduate research groups maintain their own computing facilities. Undergraduate and graduate students also have access to all campus computing facilities--which include: several supercomputer facilities, graphics and resource computing laboratories, as well as the open access PC-laboratories on campus.

The Department is closely allied with the petroleum industry, and as such, receives substantial support in the form of fellowships, research projects and unrestricted gifts. In addition to funding from the petroleum industry, the Department currently receives support through research projects from the US Department of Energy, the National Science Foundation, the Minerals Management Service (US Department of the Interior), the State of Texas and the Global Petroleum Research Institute.

(PETE)

602. Well Stimulation. (3-0). Credit 3.

Design and analysis of well stimulation methods, including acidizing and hydraulic fracturing; causes and solutions to low well productivity.

603. Advanced Reservoir Engineering I. (3-0). Credit 3.

Petroleum reservoir simulation basics including solution techniques for explicit problems.

604. Advanced Reservoir Engineering II. (3-0). Credit 3.

Advanced petroleum reservoir simulation with generalized methods of solution for implicit problems. Prerequisites: PETE 603.

605. Phase Behavior of Petroleum Reservoir Fluids. (3-0). Credit 3.

Pressure, volume, temperature, composition relationships of petroleum reservoir fluids.

606. EOR Methods--Thermal. (3-0). Credit 3.

Fundamentals of enhanced oil recovery (EOR) methods and applications of thermal recovery methods. Prerequisites: PETE 323.

608. Well Logging Methods. (3-0). Credit 3.

Well logging methods for determining nature and fluid content of formations penetrated by drilling. Development of computer models for log analysis.

609. Enhanced Oil Recovery Processes. (3-0). Credit 3.

Fundamentals and theory of enhanced oil recovery; polymer flooding, surfactant flooding, miscible gas flooding and steam flooding; application of fractional flow theory; strategies and displacement performance calculations. Prerequisites: PETE 323.

610. Numerical Simulation of Heat and Fluid Flow in Porous Media. (3-0). Credit 3.

Various schemes available for the numerical simulation of heat and fluid flow in porous media. Application to hot water and steam flooding of heavy oil reservoirs and to various geothermal problems. Prerequisites: PETE 604; approval of instructor.

611. Application of Petroleum Reservoir Simulation. (3-0). Credit 3.

Use of simulators to solve reservoir engineering problems too complex for classical analytical techniques. Prerequisites: PETE 400 and 401.

613. Natural Gas Engineering. (3-0). Credit 3.

Flow of natural gas in reservoirs and in wellbores and gathering systems; deliverability testing; production forecasting and decline curves; flow measurement and compressor sizing. Prerequisites: PETE 323 and 324.

616. Engineering Near-Critical Reservoirs. (3-0). Credit 3.

Identification of reservoir fluid type; calculation of original gas in place, original oil in place, reserves and future performance of retrograde gas and volatile oil reservoirs. Prerequisites: PETE 323, 400, 401.

617. Petroleum Reservoir Management. (3-0). Credit 3.

The principles of reservoir management and application to specific reservoirs based on case studies presented in the petroleum literature.

618. Modern Petroleum Production. (3-0). Credit 3.

An advanced treatment of modern petroleum production engineering encompassing well deliverability from vertical, horizontal and multilateral/multibranch wells; diagnosis of well performance includes elements of well testing and production logging; in this course the function of the production engineer is envisioned in the context of well design, stimulation and artificial lift.

620. Fluid Flow in Petroleum Reservoirs. (3-0). Credit 3.

Analysis of fluid flow in bounded and unbounded reservoirs, wellbore storage, phase redistribution, finite and infinite conductivity fractures; dual-porosity systems. Prerequisites: PETE 323.

621. Petroleum Development Strategy. (2-3). Credit 3.

Applications of the variables, models and decision criteria used in modern petroleum development. The case approach will be used to study major projects such as offshore development and assisted recovery. Both commercial and student-prepared computer software will be used during the lab sessions to practice methods.

622. Exploration and Production Evaluation. (2-3). Credit 3.

Selected topics in oil industry economic evaluation including offshore bidding, project ranking and selection, capital budgeting, long-term oil and gas field development projects and incremental analysis for assisted recovery and acceleration.

623. Waterflooding. (3-0). Credit 3.

Design, surveillance and project management of waterfloods in reservoirs. Prerequisite: PETE 323.

624. Rock Mechanic Aspects of Petroleum Reservoir Response. (3-0). Credit 3.

Reservoir rocks and their physical behavior; porous media and fracture flow models; influence of rock deformability, stress, fluid pressure and temperature. Prerequisites: PETE 604.

625. Well Control. (3-0). Credit 3.

Theory of pressure control in drilling operations and during well kicks; abnormal pressure detection and fracture gradient determination; casing setting depth selection and advanced casing design; theory supplemented on well control simulators. Prerequisites: PETE 411.

626. Offshore Drilling. (3-0). Credit 3.

Offshore drilling from fixed and floating drilling structures; directional drilling including horizontal drilling; theory of deviation monitoring and control. Prerequisites: PETE 411.

628. Horizontal Drilling. (3-0). Credit 3.

Changing a wellbore from vertical to horizontal; long- and short-radius horizontal wells; bottomhole assemblies for achieving and maintaining control of inclination and direction; drilling fluids; torque and drag calculations; transport of drilled solids. Prerequisites: PETE 411.

629. Advanced Hydraulic Fracturing. (3-0). Credit 3.

Physical principles and engineering methods involved in hydraulic fracturing; an advanced treatise integrating the necessary fundamentals from elasticity theory, fracture mechanics and fluid mechanics to understand designs, optimization and evaluate hydraulic fracturing treatments including special topics such as high permeability fracturing and deviated well fracturing.

630. Geostatistics. (3-0). Credit 3.

Introductory and advanced concepts in geostatistics for petroleum reservoir characterization by integrating static (cores/logs/seismic traces) and dynamic (flow/transport) data; variograms and spatial correlations; regionalized variables; intrinsic random functions; kriging/cokriging; conditional simulation; non-Gaussian approaches. Prerequisites: Introductory course in statistics or PETE 322.

631. Petroleum Reservoir Description. (3-0). Credit 3.

Engineering and geological evaluation techniques to define the extent and internal character of a petroleum reservoir; estimate depositional environment(s) during the formation of the sedimentary section and resulting effects on reservoir character. Prerequisites: PETE 324 and 620.

632. Physical and Engineering Properties of Rock. (3-3). Credit 4.

Physical and engineering properties of rock and rock masses including strength, deformation, fluid flow, thermal and electrical properties as a function of the subsurface temperature, in-situ stress, pore fluid pressure and chemical environment; relationship of rock properties to logging, siting and design of wells and structures in rock.

633. Data Integration for Petroleum Reservoirs. (3-0). Credit 3.

Introduction and application of techniques that can be used to incorporate dynamic reservoir behavior into stochastic reservoir characterizations; dynamic data in the form of pressure transient tests, tracer tests, multiphase production histories or interpreted 4-D seismic information. Prerequisites: PETE 620; STAT 601.

634. Petroleum Reservoir Modeling and Data Analysis. (3-0). Credit 3.

Introduces methods for modeling and integration of reservoir data required to apply these methods; emphasizes the integration of geological information into these models.

648. Pressure Transient Testing. (3-0). Credit 3.

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. Prerequisites: PETE 324 and 620.

661. Drilling Engineering. (3-0). Credit 3.

Introduction to drilling systems: wellbore hydraulics; identification and solution of drilling problems; well cementing; drilling of directional and horizontal wells; wellbore surveying abnormal pore pressure, fracture gradients, well control; offshore drilling, underbalanced drilling.

662. Production Engineering. (3-0). Credit 3.

Development of fundamental skills for the design and evaluation of well completions, monitoring and management of the producing well, selection and design of article lift methods, modeling and design of surface facilities.

664. Petroleum Project Evaluation and Management. (3-0). Credit 3.

Introduction to oil industry economics, including reserves estimation and classification-, building and using reservoir models, developing and using reservoir management processes, managing new and mature fields, and investment ranking and selections.

666. Conservation Theory and Applications in Petroleum Engineering. (3-0). Credit 3.

Includes formulation, modeling, and interpretation of drilling fluid systems, production systems, tracer testing, hydraulic fracturing, EOR/water flooding, polymer flooding, compositional simulation, thermal recovery, and coal-bed methane production; Mathematics as the symbolic/numeric computing platform.

681. Seminar. Credit 1 each semester.

Study and presentation of papers on recent developments in petroleum technology.

685. Directed Studies. Credit 1 to 12 each semester.

Offered to enable students to undertake and complete limited investigations not within their thesis research and not covered in established curricula. Prerequisites: Graduate classification; approval of instructor.

689. Special Topics in... Credit 1 to 4.

Special topics in an identified area of petroleum engineering. May be repeated for credit.

691. Research. Credit 1 or more each semester.

Advanced work on some special problem within field of petroleum engineering. Thesis course.

692. Professional Study. Credit 1 to 12.

Approved professional study or project. May be taken more than once but not to exceed 6 hours of credit towards a degree.