Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering

Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering is a field related to the extraction of hydrocarbon resources (either crude oil or natural gas) from subsurface reservoirs. As such, petroleum and natural gas engineers predominantly work in the upstream sector of the oil and energy industries, which comprises exploration, field development, well drilling, production and injection well optimization, and wastewater disposal and CO₂ sequestration well planning. Once oil and gas are discovered, petroleum engineers determine optimum drilling and completion methods, monitor and manage production operations, and design reservoir development strategies.  They have the responsibility of providing engineering solutions with global economic, environmental, geopolitical, and societal impacts. Petroleum and natural gas engineers work closely with geoscientists and other science and technology specialists. In addition to hydrocarbon extraction, they are also well-suited to solve complex problems in geothermal energy, geological carbon sequestration, wastewater disposal, and environmental remediation of soil, groundwater, and other geologic media.

You Might Like This Program If...

• You enjoy combining disciplines such as geology, physics, and mathematics to solve complex problems of importance to society.
• You want to use science and engineering principles to tackle the challenges of global energy demands.
• You seek a profession that offers domestic and international networking opportunities.
• You enjoy working in the field, performing sophisticated computer simulations, or interpreting geologic and production data.

The undergraduate curriculum in Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering has been designed to equip the student with the fundamentals necessary to achieve lifelong professional growth. Graduates are prepared to enter both the private and public sectors as petroleum and natural gas engineers or to pursue further education at the graduate level.

The courses are structured to serve as a melting pot for theory, application to case studies, and engineering project design. This enables the student to appreciate and understand that a successful engineering design project requires a sound theoretical foundation, experimentation and engineering judgment. The thrust of the program structure emphasizes the fundamentals of mathematics and earth and engineering sciences and integrates them in application to traditional petroleum and natural gas engineering topics. Design projects are required throughout the curriculum. Execution of these projects requires an amalgamation of problem formulation strategies, testing of alternative design methodologies, feasibility studies, and economic and environmental considerations. Graduates of the program are expected to perform in various facets of the petroleum industry including drilling, production, evaluation, transportation, and storage. The petroleum and natural gas engineering faculty and staff are committed to an interactive teaching and learning environment to ensure that the student is an active participant in the learning process. General education opportunities are sufficiently broad and diverse in scope to enable the student to tailor the educational experience to particular interests, background, and expected role in society.

1. Our graduates will integrate key science and engineering principles to address the technological challenges of the petroleum and natural gas industry.
2. Our graduates will practice in a broad range of petroleum engineering fields working on teams that create innovative solutions to the most pressing problems of the petroleum and natural gas industry by implementing the ideals of ethical behavior, professionalism, and environmental sensitivity and social awareness.
3. Our graduates will be recognized as critical and independent thinkers and will assume positions of leadership in defining the social, intellectual, business and technical dimensions of the professional organizations they belong to.
4. Our graduates will continue their lifelong learning process and participate in graduate education to remain as effective professionals in the workplace of the future.

Student Outcomes

Student outcomes describe what students are expected to know and be able to do by the time of graduation. The Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering program is designed to enable students to:

1. Identify, formulate, and solve complex engineering problems by applying principles of engineering, science, and mathematics
2. Apply engineering design to produce solutions that meet specified needs with consideration of public health, safety, and welfare, as well as global, cultural, social, environmental, and economic factors
3. Communicate effectively with a range of audiences
4. Recognize ethical and professional responsibilities in engineering situations and make informed judgments, which must consider the impact of engineering solutions in global, economic, environmental, and societal contexts
5. Function effectively on a team whose members together provide leadership, create a collaborative and inclusive environment, establish goals, plan tasks, and meet objectives
6. Develop and conduct appropriate experimentation, analyze and interpret data, and use engineering judgment to draw conclusions
7. Acquire and apply new knowledge as needed, using appropriate learning strategies.

If you are a first year student applying to Penn State:

Click Apply to start your Penn State application. Before starting, you can also review the Applying Online Worksheet for more details and helpful hints about the application.

Your application work can be saved at each step of the process by clicking the Save and Continue button at the bottom of the page. This feature will allow you to move back and forth within the application or log off and return to complete your application at a later time.

After completing your Academic History, you will need to provide your Self-Reported Academic Record (SRAR). As you begin the SRAR process, a new window will open allowing you to complete your SRAR. SRAR will focus on your high school coursework. It is important that this step is a complete and accurate representation of your school record. Therefore, have a copy of your secondary school records available as you complete your SRAR. You will need to enter every class and every grade earned for the last three years, as well as those classes in progress.

After completing your SRAR, you will be directed back to the Penn State application in order to complete the Program of Study portion of the application. Here, you will indicate your desired starting semester, your intended program of study, and your starting and ending campus. For further details on how to complete this portion based on your applicant type, please see the steps to apply for first-year students.

After completing this section of the application, you will provide some additional information, an activities resume, and a personal statement. You will be able to paste in this information from other sources, but note that the formatting may not always paste in as intended.

If you are a transfer student applying to Penn State:

All international transfer students will be required to submit official high school transcripts in order to complete the application. International transfer students will not complete the Self-Reported Academic Record (SRAR) for either their high school or college coursework.

If you have accepted your offer of admission to Penn State:

If you completed SRAR and are accepted to Penn State, please provide the following for grade verification:

• Official transcript from years 9, 10, 11, and 12. If the transcript is issued in a language other than English, it must be accompanied by a separate line-by-line English translation.
• Official copy of the Tawjihi, accompanied by a separate line-by-line English translation.

Graduates of this program find rewarding careers across the globe as engineers for governmental and regulatory bodies, oil and gas producing companies, and other independent and service companies in the energy sector.

Our graduates may be candidates for careers in a wide range of industries in both the private and public sector including major oil and gas production companies, large and small independents and service companies and government agencies. The oil and gas industry is a global industry, and both U.S. domestic and international careers are commonly pursued by PNGE graduates.

MORE INFORMATION ABOUT POTENTIAL CAREER OPTIONS FOR GRADUATES OF THE PETROLEUM AND NATURAL GAS ENGINEERING PROGRAM

Opportunities for Graduate Studies

Graduates may be well suited to pursue graduate-level studies. Further study toward an M.S. or Ph.D. can lead to research, university, or management positions.

MORE INFORMATION ABOUT OPPORTUNITIES FOR GRADUATE STUDIES

Professional Resources

• Society of Petroleum Engineers Penn State Student Chapter
• American Association of Drilling Engineers Penn State Student Chapter
• Positive Energy
• International Society of Explosives Engineers Penn State Student Chapter