Graduate Courses

The faculty has approval to offer the following courses in the academic years 2019–2020 and 2020–2021; however, not all courses are taught each semester or summer session. Students should consult the Course Schedule to determine which courses and topics will be offered during a particular semester or summer session. The Course Schedule may also reflect changes made to the course inventory after the publication of this catalog.

Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering: PGE

PGE 380, 680. Advanced Petroleum Laboratory for Master's Degree Candidates.

For each semester hour of credit earned, the equivalent of one class hour a week for one semester. May be repeated for credit. Offered on the credit/no credit basis only. Prerequisite: Graduate standing and twelve semester hours of upper-division coursework in petroleum and geosystems engineering.

PGE 381. Drilling Engineering.

Not open to students who have a degree in petroleum engineering. Basic drilling terminology and advanced drilling engineering topics. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. Required for students pursuing the doctoral degree in petroleum engineering. Prerequisite: Graduate standing in petroleum engineering.

PGE 381K. Engineering Analysis.

Application of classical methods of mathematical analysis to problems frequently encountered in engineering applications. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. Prerequisite: Graduate standing.

PGE 381L. Advanced Petrophysics.

Measurement, interpretation, and analysis of petrophysical properties of petroleum reservoir rocks. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. Prerequisite: Graduate standing.

PGE 381M. Transport Phenomena.

Three lecture hours a week for one semester. Prerequisite: Graduate standing in computational and applied mathematics, engineering, or geological sciences.

PGE 382. Basic Geological Concepts for Engineers.

Basic geological principles for students with little or no geological background. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. Prerequisite: Graduate standing in petroleum or civil engineering.

PGE 382K. Theory and Application of Reservoir Transients.

Mathematical development and application of multiple pressure transients in well and reservoir systems. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. Prerequisite: Graduate standing.

PGE 382L. Numerical Methods in Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering.

The use of numerical methods and computers in the solution of petroleum and geosystems engineering problems. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. Prerequisite: Graduate standing.

PGE 383. Special Topics in Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering.

Recent literature on petroleum production practice and petroleum and geosystems engineering problems. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. May be repeated for credit when the topics vary. Prerequisite: Graduate standing in computational and applied mathematics, engineering, or geological sciences. Students seeking to enroll in any seminar must present technical prerequisites satisfactory to the instructor.

Topic 2: Advanced Drilling Fluids.
Topic 5: Thermal Recovery.
Topic 10: Numerical Solution of Time-Dependent Problems.
Topic 12: Near Wellbore Problems.
Topic 16: Topics in Computational Methods.
Topic 17: Naturally Fractured Reservoirs.
Topic 20: Geostatistics.
Topic 24: Natural Gas Engineering.
Topic 27: Rock Mechanics: Drilling, Completing, and Producing Applications.
Topic 28: Macroeconomics of Petroleum.
Topic 30: Fundamentals of Subsurface Environmental Engineering.
Topic 32: Hydraulic Fracture Design and Evaluation.
Topic 33: Advanced Drilling and Well Completion.
Topic 35: Advanced Production Engineering.
Topic 36: Advanced Numerical Methods.
Topic 38: Chromatographic Transport and Geochemical Modeling.
Topic 39: Design and Analysis of Pumping Systems.
Topic 41: Energy Finance.
Topic 46: International Petroleum Concessions and Agreements.
Topic 50: Reservoir Applications of Foam.
Topic 51: Special Problems in Well-Logging.
Topic 55: Pore-Level Petrophysics. Geological and mathematical investigation of pore-scale basis for transport phenomena and petrophysical properties of sedimentary rocks. Additional prerequisite: Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering 381L or consent of instructor.
Topic 56: Stochastic Methods for Reservoir Modeling. Spatial interpolation and stochastic simulation techniques for reservoir characterization.
Topic 57: Deepwater Operations. Overview of various technical, logistical, and managerial elements that are functionally integrated in deepwater operations, with emphasis on applications in the Gulf of Mexico.
Topic 58: Applied Reservoir Characterization. Reservoir modeling using software tools for statistical analysis of reservoir data; variogram analysis and modeling; spatial interpolation (kriging); tools for data integration in kriging; stochastic simulation of rock types (lithology), pay thickness/porosity, and permeability; inputting geological models into flow simulation; uncertainty assessment.
Topic 59: Oil and Gas Production Facilities Design. Applied theory relating to field processing of hydrocarbons and water, including hydrocarbon and gas separation, gas sweetening and dehydration, gas compression, fluid metering, process control, corrosion, and safety systems. Additional prerequisite: Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering 381M and 384, or consent of instructor.
Topic 60: Energy and Earth Resource Economics. Same as Energy and Earth Resources 396 (Topic 1: Energy and Earth Resource Economics). Theoretical and applied topics in natural resource economics, including project analysis, production theory, industrial organization, markets and regulation, and environmental economics.
Topic 61: Project Management. Overview of project management theory and practice in the natural resource sector, with a focus on exploration and production of energy resources.
Topic 62: Energy and the Environment. A survey course covering current and potential energy sources, what the energy supply mix will be in the future, and how this might impact the environment.

PGE 384. Advanced Thermodynamics and Phase Behavior.

Thermodynamic study of pressure/volume/temperature/composition relationships in oil and gas mixtures. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. May be repeated for credit. Prerequisite: Graduate standing in petroleum engineering and twelve semester hours of upper-division coursework in petroleum and geosystems engineering.

PGE 385K. Advanced Multi-Well Formation Evaluation.

Advanced concepts in formation evaluation for the estimation of static and dynamic petrophysical properties of rocks from well logs, core data, and geological information. Multi-well data sets, seismic amplitude data, and regional geological studies are used to construct hydrocarbon reservoir models amenable to production forecast and improved development of available reserves. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. Offered on the letter-grade basis only. Prerequisite: Graduate standing and a course in fundamentals of well logging.

PGE 385M. Advanced Well-Logging and Correlation.

Advanced well-logging for the geologist and engineer, involving working problems with suites of well logs to cover advanced mapping and logging techniques. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. Offered on the letter-grade basis only. Prerequisite: Graduate standing, Geological Sciences 383, and three semester hours of coursework in fundamentals of well logging.

PGE 386K. Advanced Fluid Flow in Porous Media.

The hydrodynamic equations governing the steady state flow of homogeneous fluids in porous media and their application to petroleum and geosystems engineering problems. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. Prerequisite: Graduate standing.

PGE 387. Secondary Recovery of Petroleum.

Recovery by gas injection and water flooding. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. Prerequisite: Graduate standing in petroleum engineering and twelve semester hours of upper-division coursework in petroleum and geosystems engineering.

PGE 387K. Fundamentals of Enhanced Oil Recovery I.

Recent innovations in the recovery of petroleum by injecting fluids miscible with the oil or by application of heat to the reservoir. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. Prerequisite: Graduate standing.

PGE 387L. Fundamentals of Enhanced Oil Recovery II.

Basic concepts and principles of chemical flooding methods of enhanced oil recovery, which include polymer flooding, surfactant-polymer flooding (SP), alkaline-sufactant-polymer flooding (ASP), chemical imbibitions by wettability alteration methods and surfactant-gas (SG) methods, and also some comparisons with other EOR methods such as miscible gas flooding when appropriate and as time permits. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. Prerequisite: Graduate standing.

PGE 388. Advanced Reservoir Engineering.

Basic concepts of reservoir engineering, with applications to the production of hydrocarbons from both gas and oil reservoirs. Examines the governing equations for flow in permeable media, as well as concepts such as streamline flow; pseudo-steady-state flow, fractional flow, and both immiscible and miscible flow. Uses black oil and compositional reservoir simulators. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. Prerequisite: Graduate standing in computational and applied mathematics, engineering, or geological sciences. Students must present technical prerequisites satisfactory to the instructor.

PGE 389. Economic Analysis in the Petroleum Industry.

Engineering justification for capital outlay in the petroleum industry. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. Prerequisite: Graduate standing in engineering or geological sciences.

PGE 290, 390, 690, 990. Advanced Laboratory for Doctoral Candidates.

For each semester hour of credit earned, the equivalent of one class hour a week for one semester. May be repeated for credit. Offered on the credit/no credit basis only. Prerequisite: Graduate standing in petroleum engineering.

PGE 392K. Numerical Simulation of Reservoirs.

Development and application of reservoir simulator models to primary and secondary recovery processes in reservoir engineering. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. Prerequisite: Graduate standing.

PGE 193, 293, 393. Research Seminar.

For each semester hour of credit earned, the equivalent of one lecture hour a week for one semester. May be repeated for credit when the topics vary. Offered on the credit/no credit basis only. Prerequisite: Graduate standing.

PGE 397M. Graduate Research Internship.

For students holding Master of Science degrees from other institutions who wish to pursue Doctor of Philosophy degrees at the University of Texas at Austin. The equivalent of three lecture hours a week for one semester. Offered on the credit/no credit basis only. Prerequisite: Graduate standing and consent of the graduate adviser and the dean of the Cockrell School of Engineering.

PGE 698. Thesis.

The equivalent of three lecture hours a week for two semesters. Offered on the credit/no credit basis only. Prerequisite: For 698A, graduate standing in petroleum engineering and consent of the graduate adviser; for 698B, Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering 698A.

PGE 398R. Master's Report.

Preparation of a report to fulfill the requirement for the master's degree under the report option. The equivalent of three lecture hours a week for one semester. Offered on the credit/no credit basis only. Prerequisite: Graduate standing in petroleum engineering and consent of the graduate adviser.

PGE 399W, 699W, 999W. Dissertation.

May be repeated for credit. Offered on the credit/no credit basis only. Prerequisite: Admission to candidacy for the doctoral degree.