Information for Students
What is Petroleum Geosciences?
Geoscience means Earth sciences. Petroleum Geosciences is a combination of petroleum geology and petroleum geophysics. Petroleum geologists interpret rocks to understand where petroleum (oil and gas) can be found and how it can be recovered. Petroleum geophysicists measure physical properties of rocks to find and help produce petroleum. The Program has the same high requirements in math and basic science as the other engineering programs at The Petroleum Institute.
What kinds of jobs are available in the ADNOC Group for geoscience graduates?
There are many different kinds of jobs in ADNOC and the ADNOC Exploration and Production Operating Companies (ADCO, ZADCO, ADMA):
Exploration Geologists interpret geological and geophysical data to find petroleum.
Operations Petroleum Geologists prepare drilling proposals and collect geological and geophysical data at the well during drilling.
Seismic Acquisition Geophysicists design surface and well seismic surveys and acquire seismic data.
Seismic Processing Geophysicists process surface and well seismic data.
Seismic Interpreters interpret seismic data to find petroleum and to assist with reservoir management.
Reservoir Geologists interpret geological, geophysical, and petroleum test and production data to model, develop, and manage reservoirs, working closely with petroleum engineers.
Petrophysicists interpret rock and fluid properties from well logs to assist in reservoir modeling, development, and management.
Is there a need for geoscientists with these skills?
YES! Petroleum geologists and geophysicists find petroleum and work with engineers to increase the amount of petroleum recovered from the subsurface. The world largely runs on energy from petroleum, and petroleum is very important to the economy of UAE. The value of the geoscientists is shown by the more than 10% average increase in their salaries worldwide in 2005 according to one survey (http://www.aapg.org/explorer/salarysurvey.cfm).
ADNOC needs geoscientists because much of the “easy” oil has been found and produced. It requires more geoscientists to mange reservoirs as they get older and become “mature”. The ADNOC Group has less than 150 geoscientists. ExxonMobil with only slightly more production than the UAE has more than 1500 geologists and geophysicists! All of the major petroleum companies today like Shell, BP, and ExxonMobil, can not hire as many petroleum geologist and geophysicists as they need.
