Department of Petroleum Geoscience

programme & objectives

The Department of Petroleum Geoscience is rapidly achieving its prime goal, which is to become a leader in the field of petroleum geoscience education and research within the ASEAN region. The Department was founded in 1993 as a joint initiative of Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD) and Brunei Shell Petroleum with assistance from the Department of Geology and Petroleum Geology at University of Aberdeen. In 1994, the Department began teaching the first M.Sc. programme in petroleum geoscience in the ASEAN region.

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 7 classes totaling 108 graduates from 11 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 to 18 or 19 per year for 1997/98 through 2001/02. This was a direct result of increased sponsorship of candidates by several regional petroleum companies and by the enrollment of self-sponsored candidates from ASEAN and beyond.

The Department continues to grow by offering a broader spectrum of services that will better fill the needs of the ASEAN community. Our link with the University of Aberdeen allows Ph.D. candidates to conduct an ASEAN region research project while based at UBD and enrolled at Aberdeen as a complement to the independent UBD Ph.D. programme. In keeping with our commitment to ASEAN education, our staff also are prepared to teach short courses throughout the region on a variety of petroleum geoscience topics.

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 for both teaching and research.

academic regulations

A candidate must possess a degree (normally second class honours) from a university or institution recognised by the University.

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.

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.

Total marks for the course are divided between Coursework (67%) and the Research Project (33%).

departmental resources

The Department is housed in spacious wing of the Faculty of Science Building on the new UBD campus which opened in December 1994. The new facility has ample space for students and staff, including a student study room, its own lecture roon and several laboratories. Generous support from Brunei Shell Petroleum has 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 as GPS devices.

The departmental computer network features one Sun Ultra 80, two 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 15 of the 30 Pentium PCs and all the peripherals. The Department is proud to be a member of Landmark Graphics' Strategic University Alliance Programme and Schlumberger’s Worldwide University Software Programme. These assure us of updated versions of all Landmark’s and 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 Jason Geosystems, Roxar and Hampson-Russell give us the capacity for forward and reverse seismic modelling, geostatistical analysis, stochastic modelling and AVO analysis.

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