The M.Sc. course in Petroleum Geoscience is specifically directed towards the training of petroleum exploration and production geologists and geophysicists.  A strong emphasis is placed on developing the skills required for employment in the petroleum industry.  The MSc course provides a broad technical and theoretical training in reservoir geology, geophysics, exploration geology and basin studies with a focus on the petroleum geology of the ASEAN region.  It is structured to include lectures and seminars, field work and individual research during a period of one calendar year.

The M.Sc. programme has been immediately successful; the External Examiners have rated the first 10 classes totaling 161 graduates from 13 countries as the equal of graduates from any internationally-recognised programme. Another measure of success is that enrollment increased to 17 for the 1996/97 session and attained the maximum enrollment of 20 each year since 2001. This was a direct result of increased sponsorship of candidates by several regional petroleum companies and by the enrollment of self-sponsored candidates from Asia, Europe and Africa. The coursework component of the M.Sc. programme has been revised for 2004/05 to strengthen reservoir characterisation and modeling, a revision fully supported by the petroleum industry.

In 2000, the Department introduced a Ph.D. programme by research. There are currently 5 candidates enrolled; the first will graduate in 2005 The Ph.D. studies include a diverse range of industry-relevant research topics in the areas of Sedimentology, Well Log Analysis, Sequence Stratigraphy, Structural Geology and Reservoir Geophysics based on data from Brunei and fieldwork in Thailand and Indonesia.

The Department continues to expand by offering a broader spectrum of services to fit the needs of the ASEAN community. In keeping with our commitment to education, our staff teach short courses on a variety of petroleum geoscience topics and lead field trips throughout the region. Staff are also available to the petroleum industry for consultancy services.

Academic staff are expected to undertake research into problems related to petroleum geoscience and are encouraged to pursue projects which are relevant to the ASEAN and Southeast Asian region.  An important objective of the Department is to become an internationally recognised centre of excellence in petroleum geoscience research as well as  teaching. That goal is being realised with the publication of 4 books and more than 50 papers in international journals during the past 5 years.

academic regulations

M.Sc

1.	A candidate must possess a degree (normally second class honours) from a university or institution recognised by the University.
2.	The degree of MSc. Petroleum Geoscience will be awarded to successful candidates after completion of written examinations and reports based on taught courses and a research project.
3.	Lectures and Practicals will be assessed by written examinations normally held at the end of each term.  The individual research project is assessed by a written report and oral examination upon its completion.
4.	Total marks for the course are divided between Coursework (67%) and the Research Project (33%)

B.Sc Geology and Petroleum Geology .: 1st Year : 2nd Year :.

1.	A minimum of 240 ‘A’ Level points for three ‘A’ Level passes; the three ‘A’ Level passes must be in Mathematics and other subjects (Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Geography or further Mathematics at grade ‘C’ or better, OR; An International Baccalauraeate score of 32 points preferably with minimum of 5 points in Mathematics and Geography or another science at higher level.
2.	At least a credit six in English Language at GCE ‘O’ Level or a grade ‘C’ in IGCSE English (as a Second Language) or an IELTS score f 6.0 or TEOFL minimum overall score 550.
3.	Candidates must obtain a grade C average of the four semesters to eligible for transfer to University of Aberdeen.

departmental resources

The Department is housed in a wing of the Faculty of Science Building on the UBD campus which opened in December 1994. The facility has ample space for students and staff, including a student study room, its own lecture room and several laboratories. Generous support from Brunei Shell Petroleum provided the Department with full complement of state-of-the-art equipment. One laboratory is equipped for core analysis and has several petrographic and slab microscopes. A complete suite of equipment for cutting, grinding, polishing and thin sectioning of rock samples is housed in another laboratory. A third room is dedicated to a research microscope. Field geology equipment includes a 4-wheel-drive field vehicle, a portable permeameter, a portable gamma-ray scintillometer and a portable core drill as well as GPS devices. The departmental computer network features one Sun Blade, two Sun Ultra 80, four Sun Ultra 170E and two Sunsparc 20/51 workstations. These are integrated into a PC-based network with scanning, digitizing and colour plotting and printing capabilities. Students have direct access to the computer laboratory that holds 20 of the 30 Pentium PCs and all the peripherals. The Department is proud to be a member of Schlumberger’s Worldwide University Software Programme. These assure us of updated versions of all Schlumberger’s software, including packages for 2D and 3D seismic interpretation, 3D seismic visualization and analysis, well log and petrophysical analysis including image log analysis, reservoir characterization and volumetrics, stratigraphic modelling and fluid flow simulation. Software donations from Paradigm, Jason Geosystems, Roxar and Hampson-Russell give us the capacity for forward and reverse seismic modelling, geostatistical analysis, stochastic modelling and AVO analysis.