Submit an online query form about studying at KAUST QUESTION

Study at KAUST: Student Online Applications Now Open APPLY

ENERGY RESOURCES AND PETROLEUM ENGINEERING PROGRAM ACADEMICS

Faculty and students in the Energy Resources and Petroleum Engineering Program (ERPE) at KAUST engage in interdisciplinary research to understand and model hydro-chemo-thermo-mechanical coupled processes in the subsurface, with emphasis on multiphase and reactive fluid flow (oil, gas, brine, water and steam).

The Energy Resources and Petroleum Engineering Program focuses on modern reservoir description, engineering and management. Students in this program receive broad training in basic scientific concepts, geology, geophysical characterization, and reservoir engineering. Our Students participate in scientific research activities that may include mathematical analyses, computational modeling, and/or laboratory/field studies. Ph.D. candidates focus on original research driven to advance the boundaries of knowledge.

SUMMARY OF M.S. AND PH.D. REQUIREMENTS:

ERPE requirements

View Online Program Guide

Course List & Syllabi

M.S. DEGREE REQUIREMENTS:

Masters Degree Requirements

Master with Thesis

The Master of Science (M.Sc.) degree is awarded upon successful completion of a minimum of 36 credit hours. A minimum GPA of 3.0 must be achieved to graduate.

The academic advisor must be a full-time program-affiliated assistant, associate, or full professor at KAUST. The academic advisor can only become project affiliated for the specific thesis project upon program level approval. Project affiliation approval must be completed prior to commencing research.

It is the sole responsibility of students to plan their graduate program in consultation with their advisor. Students are required to meet all deadlines and should be aware that most core courses are offered only once per year.

Individual courses require a minimum of a ‘B-’ for course credit. Students typically complete the M.Sc. degree within four semesters (18 months), however, they are strongly encouraged to complete the M.Sc. in three semesters (Fall, Spring, and Summer semesters, i.e., 12 months). Satisfactory participation in every KAUST's summer session is mandatory. Summer session courses are credit-bearing and apply towards the degree.

The M.Sc. Requirements

Core courses (12 credits)
Elective courses (12 credits)
Thesis research including capstone experience (12 credits)
Graduate seminar
Winter Enrichment Program (WEP)

Core Courses (12 credits)

Core courses are designed to provide students with the background needed to establish a solid foundation in the program area. Students must select a minimum of four ERPE core courses from the list below to satisfy program requirements.

ERPE 200	Energy and the Environment	3
ERPE 210	Fundamentals of Carbonate Geology	3
ERPE 211	Data Integration for Geomodelling	3
ERPE 220	Sediments: Properties and Processes	3
ERPE 221	Geoscience Fundamentals	3
ERPE 230	Rock Mechanics for Energy Geo-Engineering	3
ERPE 240	Fractals, Percolation and Pore-scale Flow	3
ERPE 250	Reservoir Engineering Fundamentals and Applications	3
ERPE 260	Drilling Engineering	3
ERPE 331	Subsurface Geomechanics and Field Applications	3

Elective Courses (12 credits)

Students may select four elective courses from any 200 or 300 level courses at KAUST. Courses above (under core courses) and those listed below are most often selected by ERPE students. Note: selections require approval from the academic advisor. The elective courses are designed to allow students to tailor their educational experience to meet individual and educational objectives.

ERPE 241	Multiphase Flow in Porous Media	3
ERPE 270/ME 214	Experimental Methods in Research	3
ERPE 310	Sequence Stratigraphy	3
ERPE 311	Carbonate Diagenesis	3
ERPE 315	Energy Geoscience	3
ERPE 331	Subsurface Geomechanics and Field Applications	3
ERPE 350	Thermodynamics of Subsurface Reservoirs	3
ERPE 351	Modeling Naturally Fractured Reservoirs	3
ERPE 360	Field Development Planning	3
ERPE 361	Advanced Well Testing	3
ERPE 362	Enhanced Oil Recovery	3
STAT 210	Applied Statistics and Data Analysis	3
STAT 220	Probability and Statistics	3
STAT 230	Linear Models	3
STAT 240	Bayesian Statistics	3
STAT 250	Stochastic Processes	3
AMCS 201	Applied Mathematics I	3
AMCS 206	Applied Numerical Methods	3
AMCS 231	Applied Partial Differential Equations I	3
AMCS 251	Numerical Linear Algebra	3
CS 201	Introduction to Programming with Python	3
CS 229	Machine Learning	3
ErSE 210	Seismology	3
ErSE 213	Inverse Problems	3
ErSE 222	Machine Learning in Geoscience	3
ErSE 253	Data Analysis in Geosciences	3
ErSE 260	Seismic Imaging	3
ErSE 309	Thermodynamics of Subsurface Reservoirs	3
ErSE 330	Pore-Scale Modeling of Subsurface Flow	3
ErSE 353	Data Assimilation	3

M.Sc. Thesis

Students must have at least a 3.0 cumulative GPA. A minimum of 12 credits of thesis research (297) is required. Students are permitted to register for more than 12 credits of M.Sc. thesis research with the permission of the academic advisor. The selected academic advisor must be a full time program-affiliated assistant, associate, or full professor at KAUST. This advisor can only become project-affiliated for the specific thesis project upon program level approval. Project-affiliation approval must be completed prior to commencing research.

A written thesis and an oral defense of the M.Sc. thesis are required. It is advisable that students submit a final copy of the thesis to the thesis committee members at least two weeks prior to the defense date.

The thesis defense committee, which must be approved by the dean, consists of three KAUST faculty. If additional expertise is needed, the committee could be extended, subject to dean’s approval. At least two committee members must be affiliated with the program. The chair may be any KAUST faculty familiar with the program rules. This membership can be summarized as:

Member	Role	Program Status
1	Chair	Within or outside program
2	Faculty	Within program
3	Faculty	Within or outside program
4	Additional faculty or research scientist	Within or outside program

Notes:

Members 1, 2, and one of 3 or 4 are required
Co-chairs may serve as member 2 or 3
Adjunct professors and professors emeriti may retain their roles on current committees, but may not serve as chair on any new committees
Professors of practice and research professors may serve as members 2 or 3 depending upon their affiliation with the student’s program, they may also serve as co-chairs
Visiting professors may serve as member 3

M.Sc. Non-Thesis

The non-thesis option is not supported by the ERPE program. All M.Sc. and M.Sc./Ph.D. students must conduct a capstone experience, including thesis preparation and oral defense.

M.Sc./Ph.D. who don’t complete the M.Sc. thesis requirement will not be eligible to earn the M.Sc. degree.

Graduate Seminar

All students are required to register and receive a satisfactory grade in the graduate seminar (non-credit) for every semester of the program they attend, except for the last semester of graduation. The attendance of the graduate seminar is optional for the graduation semester.

Winter Enrichment Program (WEP)

Students are required to satisfactorily complete at least one full Winter Enrichment Program (WEP).

Masters Assessment Test

Students are admitted to KAUST from a wide variety of programs and backgrounds. In order to facilitate the design of an appropriate study plan for each individual student, all MS and MS/PhD incoming students will be required to take an assessment during orientation week. There is no grade for the assessment. The purpose of the assessment is to determine whether students have mastered the prerequisites for undertaking graduate level courses taught in the program. The Advisor uses the results of the assessments to design, if necessary, a remedial study plan with a list of courses aimed at addressing content areas that may impede a student from successful completion of the degree requirements.

Students are encouraged to prepare for the assessment by refreshing the general knowledge gained from their undergraduate education before arriving at KAUST.

ENERGY RESOURCES AND PETROLEUM ENGINEERING Assessment Test Subjects

Energy Resources and Petroleum Engineering students will be tested on the following subjects:

Basic Principles of Mechanics
Basic Principles of Physics
Engineering Mathematics
Basic Principles of General Chemistry

1. Basic Principles of Mechanics

Topics included in the Principles of Mechanics assessment test:

Solid Mechanics
Fundamental Concepts: Units, Scalar & Vector
Adding/resolving forces, moments, types of load/support
Equilibrium of rigid bodies. Free body diagrams. Static determinacy
Trusses: static determinacy, method of joints and method of sections
Stress, strain, elastic constants, Hooke's law
Beams: shear force and bending moment diagrams
Engineer's Bending Theory. First and second moments of area
Beam deflection due to bending, moment-curvature relationship
Differential equation of the deflection curve. Solution by integration
Shear stress in beams. Shear formula
Torsion of circular section shafts, polar second moment of area
Buckling of elastic struts. Concept of instability. Euler formula
Stress, strain, elastic constants, thermal strain, Hooke's law (2D/3D)
Stresses in thin-walled cylinders subject to internal pressure
Two-dimensional analysis of stress
Stress transformation using Mohr circles
Principle stresses and strains
Friction
Stress-strain relationships of common structural materials
Materials in Engineering: Metals, ceramics, polymers and composites
Basic concepts of fluid Mechanics

Recommended References:

Roger T. Fenner and J.N. Reddy, Mechanics of Solids and Structures, CRC Press – ISBN 9781439858141.
Online reference: “Engineering Mechanics of Solids” MIT.

Sample questions from previous tests.

2. Basic Principles of Physics

Topics inluded in the Principles of Physics assessment test:

Newtonian Physics:

Kinematics (motion with constant acceleration in one and two dimensions).
Dynamics (Newton’s Laws of motion).
Work-Energy theorem, potential energy and energy conservation.
Momentum, impulse and collisions.

Electromagnetism:

Electric fields, Coulomb’s law, electric potential and potential energy, electric flux (Gauss’s law).
Direct-current circuits, resistors and capacitors is series and in parallel, theory of metallic conduction, power distribution systems.
Magnetic field, motion of charged particles within uniform magnetic fields, magnetic force on current-carrying conductors, forces between parallel conductors.
Electromagnetic Induction: Faraday’s and Lenz’s Laws, motional electromotive force, induced electric fields.

Quantum Physics:

The photoelectric effect.
Wave particle duality, probability and uncertainty.
Electron waves, de Broglie wavelength.
Atomic spectra, energy levels and the Bohr model of the atom.
Wave function interpretation.

Thermodynamics:

Calorimetry and phase changes.
Equations of state, molecular properties of matter.
Kinetic-molecular model of an ideal gas.
Work done during volume changes.
Paths between thermodynamics states .
Kinds of thermodynamic processes.
1st law of thermodynamics and Internal Energy.
2nd law of thermodynamics. Carnot cycle and entropy.

Oscillations and Waves:

Mathematical description of a wave.
Energy in wave motion.
Speed of waves.
Superposition of waves.
Standing waves.
Reflection, Refraction, critical angle and total internal reflection.
Diffraction from a single, double slits and around objects. Interference patterns including double-slit interference.

Recommended References:

Young, Hugh D., et al. University Physics with Modern Physics. Addison-Wesley, 2011 (or any undergraduate general physics textbook).
Online Reference: Elert, Glenn. “Welcome.” Viscosity – ThePhysics Hypertextbook.

Sample questions from previous tests.

3. Engineering Mathematics and Basic Calculus

Topics included in the Engineering Mathematics assessment test:

Functions and Models (including graphical representation of functions)
Limits
Derivatives (including graphical and physical interpretation of derivatives)
Anti-derivatives and definite integrals.
The classes of functions used to develop these concepts are: polynomial, rational, trigonometric exponential and logarithmic.
Integration (by parts, substitutions, partial fractions, approximation of integrals and improper integrals)
Infinite sequences and series
Convergence tests
Power series
Taylor polynomials and series
Taylor's Remainder Theorem
Vector Calculus: Vector Fields, Divergence and Curl.

Recommended References:

Banner, Adrian. The Calculus Lifesaver: All the Tools You Need to Excel at Calculus. Princeton, NJ, USA: Princeton University Press, 2009, ISBN-13: 978-0691130880
Strang, Gilbert. Calculus. Wellesley, MA: Wellesley-Cambridge Press, 2010, ISBN 978-09802327-4-5
Zill, Dennis G., and Warren S. Wright. Advanced Engineering Mathematics. Burlington, Ma: Jones and Bartlett Learning, 2018, ISBN-13: 978-1284105902
Stewart, James. Essential Calculus: Early Transcendentals. Australia: Brooks/Cole, 2013, ISBN-13: 978-1133112280

Online Recommended References:

Calculus: Early Transcendentals by James Stewart

Sample questions from previous tests.

4. Basic Principles of General Chemistry

Topics students are expected to know:

Principles of atomic structure
Molecular orbitals
polarity
formal charges
acid and bases
stoichiometry

Recommended References:

Principles of General Chemistry by M. S. Silberb

Basic Principles of General Chemistry: Sample Question

PH.D. DEGREE REQUIREMENTS:

The Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree is designed to prepare students for research careers in academia and industry.
It is offered exclusively as a full-time program.

There is a minimum residency requirement at KAUST of 3.5 years for students entering with a B.S. degree and 2.5 years for students entering with an M.S. degree. A minimum GPA of 3.0 must be achieved on all Doctoral coursework. Individual courses require a minimum of a B- to earn course credit.

Students pursuing Ph.D. degree are required to complete the following degree requirements to earn the degree:

Securing a Dissertation Advisor.
Successful completion of program coursework.
Passing the Qualifying Examination within the first year of the start of Ph.D. program.
Formation of the Dissertation Committee.
Passing the Dissertation Proposal Defense within at most 1 year from completing the qualifying exam.
Defend and Submit Ph .D. Dissertation

PH.D. DEGREE TIMELINE:

ERPE PhD

Submission of Dissertation and final approval form

All graduation candidates will submit the final thesis/dissertation directly to the KAUST Repository. Formatting review will be done in the repository workflow. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to the Registrar HelpDesk registrarhelpdesk@kaust.edu.sa and your GPC. Please use the step-by-step user guide HERE.

Q&A

Q: How do I know if I am ready to archive?

A: You will have the final PDF file of your thesis complete (along with all supplementary files)

Q: How do I get my advisor’s final approval for archiving?

A: After you send the Turnitin report to your advisor, you can initiate their final approval for you to archive HERE.

Q: What’s the first thing I do to start the archiving process?

A: go to the KAUST Repository and “submit an item”: https://repository.kaust.edu.sa/

Q: Do I have to have an ORCID before archiving?

A: Yes, you do. http://orcid.kaust.edu.sa

Q: I want to hold making my thesis public for up to a year (embargo). How do I do this?

A: This is part of the repository submission process (see user guide for screenshots).

Oral Defense and Result Submission

The Dissertation Defense is the final milestone of the degree. This part requires acceptance of the Dissertation and the passing of the final defense. The final defense is a public presentation that consists of an oral defense followed by questions and may last a maximum of three hours.

Evaluation

There are four (4) possible outcomes for Final Defense:

Pass without conditions
Pass with conditions
Fail with retake
Fail without retake

A pass is achieved when the committee agrees with no more than one dissenting vote, otherwise the student fails.

In the instance of a Pass with Conditions, the entire committee must agree on the required conditions and if they cannot, the Dean decides. The deadline to complete the conditions is one (1) month after the defense date unless the committee unanimously agrees to reduce it.

In the instance of a Fail without Retake permitted, the decision of the committee must be unanimous. Otherwise one retake is permitted. The deadline to complete the retake is four (4) months after the defense date unless the committee unanimously agrees to reduce it. Students who fail the Final Dissertation Defense or who fail the retake will be dismissed from the university.

Ph.D. student is required to submit the Ph.D. Dissertation Defense Examination Result form to the GPC within three days after the defense examination.

Petition for PhD Dissertation Defense Examination

Petition for Dissertation Defense Examination

Ph.D. student is expected to declare his/her intention to defend the Ph.D. Dissertation by forming the dissertation committee and submitting the Ph.D. Petition for Dissertation Defense Examination form to the GPC. The student must submit the form to the GPC by the end of the second week of the semester the student intends to defend.

It is advisable that the student submits her/his dissertation to committee members six weeks prior the defense date.

Dissertation Committee

The PhD Dissertation Defense committee for the final defense must consist of at least four members, and typically includes no more than six members. At least three of the required members must be KAUST faculty and one must be an examiner who is external to KAUST. The Chair plus one additional faculty member must be affiliated with the student’s program.

The External Examiner must hold a Full or Associate Professor position at a university other than KAUST. The External Examiner will review the dissertation and send a report within three weeks sharing his/her recommendations and questions prior to the final defense. Beyond the External Examiner, up to two additional members can be added. All committee members must attend the final defense, by videoconference if necessary.

Member Role & Program Status:

Member	Role	Program Status
1	Chair	Within Program
2	Faculty	Within Program
3	Faculty	Outside Program
4	External Examiner	Outside KAUST
5	Approved Research Scientist	Inside KAUST
6	Additional Faculty	Inside or outside KAUST

Notes:

Members 1 – 4 are required. Members 5 and 6 are optional.
Co-chairs may serve as either Member 2, 3 or 6.
Adjunct Professors and Professor Emeriti may retain their roles on current committees, but may not serve as chair on any new committees.
Professors of Practice and Research Professors may serve as Members 2, 3 or 6 depending upon their affiliation with the student’s program. They may also serve as co-chairs.
Visiting Professors may serve as Member 6, but not as the external examiner.

PhD Dissertation Proposal Defense

The Dissertation Proposal Defense is the second part of the qualification milestones that must be completed to become a Ph.D. Candidate. The purpose of the Dissertation Proposal Defense is to demonstrate that the student has the ability and is adequately prepared to undertake Ph.D. level research in the proposed area. This preparation includes necessary knowledge of the chosen subject, a review of the literature and preparatory theory or experiment as applicable.

Ph.D. students are required to complete the Dissertation Proposal Defense within one (1) year after passing the qualifying exam. The proposal defense date will be determined by student and his/her advisor. Ph.D. students must request to present the Dissertation Proposal Defense to the Proposal Dissertation Committee by submitting the Dissertation Committee Formation Form two weeks prior to the Ph.D. proposal defense date.

The Dissertation Proposal Defense includes two aspects: a written research proposal and an oral research proposal defense.

The written research proposal document should be 3000 words (+/- 10%).
The oral defense should be 1.5 hours long (30 min presentation, 60 min questions)

Ph.D. Proposal Defense Evaluation

There are four possible outcomes from this Dissertation Proposal Defense:
Pass: A pass is achieved when the committee agrees with no more than one dissenting vote, otherwise the student fails.
Pass with conditions: In the instance of a Pass with conditions, the entire committee must agree on the required conditions and if they cannot, the Dean decides. The deadline to complete the conditions is one month after the defense date, unless the committee unanimously agrees to change it.
Fail with retake: The deadline to complete the retake is six months after the defense date, unless the committee unanimously agrees to reduce it.
Fail without retake: In the instance of a Fail without Retake, the decision of the committee must be unanimous. Students who fail the Dissertation Proposal Defense, or who fail the retake, will be dismissed from the University.

The Dissertation Proposal Evaluation form must be submitted within 48 hours after presenting the dissertation proposal.

Upon passing the Proposal Defense, student must submit the change to Ph.D. candidate status form.

PhD Committee Formation

The Dissertation Committee must include the following members:

First member: Dissertation Advisor who acts as committee chair
Second member: Program or Program-affiliated faculty member
Third member: KAUST faculty member from another program

The Dissertation Committee must be approved by the Program Chair and the Dean. Once constituted, the composition of the committee can only be changed with the approval of both the Dissertation Advisor and the Dean.

The Dissertation Committee form must be completed and submitted to GPC for approval two weeks prior to the Ph.D. proposal defense

PhD Qualifying Exam

The purpose of the Subject-based Qualifying Exam is to test the student's knowledge of the subject matter within the field of study. All students entering the Ph.D. program with a B.S. degree must take this examination within two years of their admission. Students admitted to the program with an M.S. degree must take this exam within one year.

The qualifying exam will cover the content of the core courses.

ErPE 200 -Energy and the Environment
ErPE 210 -Fundamentals of Carbonate Geology
ErPE 211 -Data Integration for Geomodelling
ErPE 220 -Sediments: Properties and Processes
ErPE 221 -Geoscience Fundamentals
ErPE 230 -Rock Mechanics for Energy Geo-Engineering
ErPE 240 -Fractals, Percolation and Pore-scale Flow
ErPE 250- Reservoir Engineering Fundamentals and Applications
ErPE 260 -Drilling Engineering
ErPE 331 -Subsurface Geomechanics and Field Applications

The examination in all three subjects will be held on the same day.

Only PhD and MS/PhD students will be allowed to take the qualifying exam.

Registration for the Qualifying Exam:

The qualifying exam is schduled twice per year, January and June. A call for registration will be sent via email to Ph.D. students eight (8) weeks before the exam date. The email will include the exam date and instructions to register for the exam.

Evaluation of Ph.D. Qualifying Exam:

The exams will be evaluated within the next 72 hours.

ERPE faculty members will discuss and approve the results before sending the results to students.

Results will be sent to students via email.

Students who fail the qualifying exam are required to re-take the exam the following time the exam is offered.

Students who fail the Subject-based Qualifying Exam with no retake or fail the retake will be dismissed from the university.

PhD Course Requirements

The required coursework varies for students entering the Ph.D. with a bachelor’s degree or relevant master’s degree. Students holding a bachelor’s degree must complete all program core courses and elective courses outlined in the master’s degree section and are also required to complete the Ph.D. courses below. Students entering with a bachelor’s degree may also qualify to earn a master’s degree by satisfying the master’s degree requirements. However, it is the students’ responsibility to declare their intentions to obtain the master’s degree before the proposal defense.

Students entering the Ph.D. with a relevant master’s degree must complete the minimum requirements below (note: additional courses may be required by the academic advisor):
Students with an ERPE master’s degree: at least two 300-level courses.
Students with a KAUST master’s degree but not in ERPE or with a master’s degree from another university must take a minimum of four ERPE courses: two must be core courses, and two must be 300-level courses.
Transfer students: students transferring from another university’s Ph.D. program may receive coursework credit on a case-by-case basis, upon the recommendation of the academic advisor and the approval of the dean. Transfer students must still take a minimum of four ERPE courses and satisfy the qualifying exam and dissertation proposal defense requirements at KAUST.
Graduate seminar 398 (non-credit): all students are required to register and receive a Satisfactory grade for every semester of the program they attend, except for the last semester of graduation. The attendance of the graduate seminar 398 is optional for the graduation semester.
Winter Enrichment Program: students are required to satisfactorily complete at least one full Winter Enrichment Program (WEP) as part of the degree requirements. Students who completed WEP requirements while earning the master’s degree are not required to enroll in a full WEP for a second time in the Ph.D. degree.

Designation of Dissertation Advisor

The selected Dissertation Advisor must be a full-time program-affiliated assistant, associate or full professor at KAUST. To view the list of Energy Resources and Petroleum Engineering faculty members and faculty members affiliated with ERPE click here and scroll down the page to faculty members.

The student may also select an advisor from another program at KAUST. This advisor can only become project-affiliated for the specific dissertation project with program level approval. Project affiliation approval must be completed prior to commencing research.

To select a non-affiliated faculty members for a project base affiliation, please contact the Register’s helpdesk registrarhelpdesk@kaust.edu.sa, to submit change of program form.

Research proposal submitted by the supervisor providing an over-all research project summary and explaining how the project relates to the student's home program.

This application is subject to approval by the student's home project faculty members. The student and supervisor will be informed of the decision by the GPC.