Bachelor of science in Petroleum Engineering

Overview

University of Nairobi

College of Architecture and Engineering

School of Engineering

Department of Petroleum and Chemical Engineering

INTRODUCTION

The Department of Petroleum and Chemical Engineering is the most recent addition to the School of Engineering, at the University of Nairobi. The Department was started as a program under the Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering in the year 2014 which led to the admission of the first cohort of students in 2015.

The Petroleum Engineering undergraduate program is primarily concerned with the training on how to engage in economic extraction of oil and gas natural resources from the earth. Producing oil and gas is accomplished through the exploration, design, drilling and operation of wells and well systems, and the integrated management of the underground reservoirs in which the resources are found. A minor emphasis of the petroleum engineering program at the University of Nairobi will be the study of transportation of crude and refined petroleum products as well as downstream activities such as storage and distribution of petroleum products.

The curriculum is tailored to give the students a solid scientific foundation from the start, where in the first year of study, courses in mathematics, physics, chemistry, computer programming are taught, as well as other courses in the humanities such as communication skills, philosophy and HIV/AIDS. These courses are common to other disciplines of engineering.

The second and third year of the program are used to prepare the students in the engineering sciences such as Geology, Fluid Mechanics, Thermodynamics and Heat Transfer, Mechanics of Machines, Systems and Controls, Engineering Communication as well as Mathematics.

In the Fourth and Fifth years of study, the students study specialized courses in reservoir engineering, well drilling technology, the evaluation of petroleum formations and production systems, and production enhancement. In these senior years, students also are expected to study broad subjects such as engineering management. In the final year of study, students work on an engineering project that could be experimental or design-based and this exposes them to the design process from concept to the final product, emphasizing effective communication and presentation skills.

Structure

Courses Offered in the Programme

First Year

Course Code	Course Title	Semester I Hours	Semester II Hours	Credit Hours
FPE 111	Physics I	60		4
FPE 112	Physics II		60	4
FPE 151	Chemistry I	60		4
FPE 152	Chemistry II		60	4
FPE 161	Engineering Drawing I (Manual Drawing)	60		4
FPE 162	Engineering Drawing II (Computer Aided Drawing)		60	4
FPE 165	Communication Skills (CCS004)	45		3
FPE 168	Elements of Philosophy (CCS008)		45	3
FPE 169	Emerging Health & Social Challenges HIV/AIDS (CCS 010)	45		3
FPE 171	Calculus I	45		3
FPE 172	Calculus II		45	3
FPE 173	Engineering Mechanics I (Statics)	45		3
FPE 174	Engineering Mechanics II (Dynamics)		45	3
FPE 182	Computer Science		45	3
TOTAL		360	360	48

Second Year

Course Code	Course Title	Semester I Hours	Semester II Hours	Credit Hours
FPE 201	Introduction to Physical geography & Geology	45		3
FPE 202	Introduction to Petroleum Engineering		45	3
FPE 203	Introduction to Geophysics	45		3
FPE 211	Solid and Structural Mechanics I	45		3
FPE 212	Solid and Structural Mechanics II		45	3
FPE 221	Thermodynamics I	45		3
FPE 222	Thermodynamics II		45	3
FPE 231	Fluid Mechanics I	45		3
FPE 232	Fluid Mechanics II		45	3
FPE 242	Non Destructive Testing (NDT)		45	3
FPE 251	Engineering materials science I	45		3
FPE 262	Sustainable Development		45	3
FPE 271	Calculus III	45		3
FPE 272	Linear Algebra		45	3
FPE 281	Computer Science II	45		3
FPE 292	Electrical Circuits		45	3
TOTAL		360	360	48

Third Year

Course Code	Course Title	Semester I Hours	Semester II Hours	Credit Hours
FPE 311	Engineering Mechanics III (Dynamics)	45		3
FPE 322	Petroleum Drilling Systems		45	3
FPE 324	Reservoir Fluids		45	3
FPE 331	Formation Evaluation	45		3
FPE 332	Process Principles		45	3
FPE 342	Exploration Geophysics		45	3
FPE 343	Management & Business for Engineers	45		3
FPE 344	Law for Engineers		45	3
FPE 351	Engineering Materials Science II	45		3
FPE 353	Reservoir Petro-physics	45		3
FPE 362	Well Performance		45	3
FPE 371	Calculus IV	45		3
FPE 372	Mathematical Methods		45	3
FPE 391	Analogue & Digital Electronics	45		3
TOTAL		315	315	42

FPE 399 Petroleum Engineering Field Assignment 8 weeks = 320 Hours (Equivalent to 110 hours of Instruction or 7 credit hours)

At the end of 3^nd Year, students proceed for Practical Field Assignment for a period of 8 weeks.

Fourth Year

Course Code	Course Title	Semester I Hours	Semester II Hours	Credit Hours
FPE 412	Drilling Engineering		45	3
FPE 413	Well testing and production logging	45		3
FPE 414	Petroleum Chemistry		45	3
FPE 421	Heat Transfer	45		3
FPE 431	Production Engineering	45		3
FPE 432	Reservoir Models		45	3
FPE 444	Engineering Project Management	45		3
FPE 452	Entrepreneurship for Engineers		45	3
FPE 461	Integrated Reservoir Design I	60		4
FPE 462	Integrated Reservoir Design II		60	4
FPE 471	Statistics for Engineers	45		3
FPE 472	Numerical Methods for Engineers		45	3
FPE 491	Electrical Machines (DC & AC)	45		3
FPE 492	Instrumentation & Control		45	3
	TOTAL	330	330	44

Industrial Attachment

FPE 499 – Industrial Attachment

At the end of 4^th Year, students proceed for Industrial Attachment for a period of 12 weeks.

Fifth Year

Course Code	Course Title	Hours Semester I	Hours Semester II	Credit Hours
FPE 503	Advanced Production Engineering	45		3
FPE 511	Advanced Drilling Engineering	45		3
FPE 521	Petroleum Production Systems		45	3
FPE 522	Petroleum Refining		45	3
FPE 531	Reservoir Simulation I	45		3
FPE 532	Reservoir Simulation II		45	3
FPE 542	Downstream Operations		45	3
FPE 543	Hydrocarbon Phase Behaviour	45		3
FPE 544	Production Enhancement		45	3
FPE 551	Petroleum Economics	45		3
FPE 561	Engineering Project I	60		4
FPE 562	Engineering Project II		60	4
FPE 5XX	Elective I	45		3
FPE 5XX	Elective II		45	3
	TOTAL	330	330	44

Admission Requirements

Admission Requirements for BSc Petroleum Engineering

Candidates shall be eligible for admission into the Bachelor of Science degree in the School of Engineering in the following categories.

KCSE Candidates

The basic admission requirement shall be the minimum requirement set for entry into Public Universities which is a mean grade of at least C+ in Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE). In addition, candidates shall have obtained at least C+ in each of the four cluster subjects from any of the following alternative clusters. However, a cut-off grade higher than C+ in each cluster subject shall be preferred if limitations of the number of places available for each degree programme versus the number of qualified candidates so demand. The said cut-off grades shall be determined and implemented by the School Board.

Alternative A:

Physics

Chemistry

Mathematics

Biology or Geography or any Group IV Subject

Alternative B:

Physical Sciences

Biological Sciences

Mathematics

Geography or any Group IV Subject

Group IV Subjects:

Home Science Building Construction

Art and Design Power Mechanics

Agriculture Electricity

Woodwork Drawing and Design

Metalwork Aviation Technology

A-Level Candidates

A-level candidates with 2 principals in Mathematics and Physics and a subsidiary level pass in Chemistry with Credit pass in English at O level

KNEC Higher National Diploma (HND) or Equivalent

Candidates with Higher National Diploma in the following broad areas of study:

1. Agricultural Engineering
2. Civil engineering
3. Electrical engineering
4. Mechanical engineering
5. Geospatial Engineering
6. Any other approved subject area.

Ordinary KNEC Diploma or equivalent (with credit pass)

1. Agricultural Engineering
2. Civil engineering
3. Electrical engineering
4. Mechanical engineering
5. Geospatial Engineering
6. Any other approved subject area.

Diploma from Science/Technical Teacher Training Colleges

Candidates with a Diploma in Mathematics and Physics from recognized teacher training colleges.

B.Sc/B.Ed (Science) degrees from Universities or any other relevant degrees

Candidates with a Bachelor of Science in Geology/geological petro-science and chemistry or Education degree in Physics and Mathematics from recognized institutions or any other relevant degree from a recognized institution.

Careers

Thematic Areas

The Petroleum Engineering program at the UoN largely focuses on training and research in technologies for the upstream sector of the industry. The three broad thematic areas are as follows:

Exploration and Drilling
Reservoir Engineering
Production Engineering

These are described in some detail below:

Exploration and Drilling

This thematic area consists of three focus areas:

Exploration geo-physics

This focus area dwells on technologies and methods for geophysical surveys including magnetic, gravity, seismic refraction, seismic reflection, electrical resistivity, natural potential and, ground penetrating radar.

Drilling and completions

This focus area dwells on technology development for drilling, well completions, and rock mechanics. Topics include well bore stability, high-temperature/high-pressure properties of drilling fluids, fracture gradients and pore pressure quantifications.

Reservoir Engineering

This thematic area consists of three focus areas:

Reservoir Science

This focus area dwells on topics such as how to extract oil and gas efficiently from reservoirs taking into account geology, well locations, well type, well performance, injection and production strategies, production history, reservoir characteristics, fluid characteristics, data analytics, economics and many other factors.

Reservoir Simulation

Reservoir simulation research focuses on development and application of reservoir simulators for various oil and gas recovery processes. The major development and application in this area have been concentrated on development and application of compositional reservoir simulators for enhanced oil recovery processes.

Formation Evaluation

Formation evaluation research understands and characterizes the physical properties of reservoir rocks and distribution of fluids and pores within them. We investigate these properties through a variety of computational, laboratory, and down-hole techniques that combine fundamental physics and chemistry with petro-physical principles and measurement technology.

Integrated Reservoir Characterization

Integrated Reservoir Characterization research focuses on: 1. providing practical approaches for assessing and managing geologic and flow related uncertainty using improved physical and stochastic models, and 2. providing insights into the physics of fluid flow through multi-scale heterogeneous media.

Production Engineering

This thematic area consists of two focus areas:

Production technologies

This focus area dwells on a wide range of interests while presenting front-end technologies and meeting current industrial demands. Subjects include matrix acidizing, acid fracturing, fluid diversion, intelligent completion, and unstable displacement in porous media.

Enhanced Oil Recovery

This focus area dwells on methods for enhancing oil recovery. It applies a number of methods to investigate process mechanisms, optimization and development of new chemicals, new models to design and predict field performance taking into account geology, geochemistry, petro-physics and reservoir engineering factors.

Fees and Funding

Fees Structure for Bachelor of Science in Petroleum Engineering

. Year 1	Semester I	Semester II	Total
Registration	3,000		3,000
Tuition Fees	125,000	125,000	250,000
Examinations	5,000		5,000
ID Card	1,000		1,000
Student organisation	1,000	-	1,000
Medical Fee	5,000	-	5,000
Activity Fee	2,000	-	2,000
Library Fee	4,000	-	4,000
Computer Laboratory	5,000	-	5,000
Caution (one off)	5,000	-	5,000
Laboratory	12,000		5,000
Total (Kes)	168,000	125,000	293,000

Year 2	Semester I		Semester II		Total
Registration		3,000		3,000
Tuition Fees	125,000		125,000		250,000
Examinations	5,000				5,000
ID Card	1,000				1,000
Student organisation	1,000		-		1,000
Medical Fee	5,000		-		5,000
Activity Fee	2,000		-		2,000
Library Fee	4,000		-		4,000
Computer Laboratory	5,000		-		5,000
Laboratory	5000,				5,000
Total (Kes)	156,000		125,000		281,000

Year 3	Semester I	Semester II	Total
Registration	3,000		3,000
Tuition Fees	125,000	125,000	250,000
Examinations	5,000		5,000
ID Card	1,000		1,000
Student organisation	1,000	-	1,000
Medical Fee	5,000	-	5,000
Activity Fee	2,000	-	2,000
Library Fee	4,000	-	4,000
Computer Laboratory Field Assignment	5,000 24,000	-	5,000 24,000
Laboratory	5000,		5,000
Total (Kes)	180,000	125,000	305,000

Year 4	Semester I		Semester II		Total
Registration		3,000		3,000
Tuition Fees	125,000		125,000		250,000
Examinations	5,000				5,000
ID Card	1,000				1,000
Student organisation	1,000		-		1,000
Medical Fee	5,000		-		5,000
Activity Fee	2,000		-		2,000
Library Fee	4,000		-		4,000
Laboratory	5000,				5,000
Total (Kes)	151,000		125,000		276,000

Year 5	Semester I		Semester II		Total
Registration		3,000		3,000
Tuition Fees	125,000		125,000		250,000
Examinations	5,000				5,000
ID Card	1,000				1,000
Student organisation	1,000		-		1,000
Medical Fee	5,000		-		5,000
Activity Fee	2,000		-		2,000
Library Fee	4,000		-		4,000
Computer Laboratory	5,000		-		5,000
Laboratory	5,000				5,000
Project	5,000				5,000
Total (Kes)	161,000		125,000		286,000

Summary of Fees for the Bachelor of Science in Petroleum engineering program

Tuition fees Kes 1,250,000/-

Field Assignment Kes 48,000/-

Final year project Kes 50,000/-

Administration fees Kes 200,000/-

Total (over five years) Kes 1,783,000/-

Fees are Kes 250,000 p.a for East African students

Exam Regulations

Student Assessment Policy/Criteria

The student assessment policy/criteria consist of;

Continuous assessment
End of Semester examinations
Practical laboratory/workshop sessions

Grading System

In line with the grading system in use at the University of Nairobi, an aggregate score in the assessments will result in the following grades;

Score	Grade
70% and above	A
60 – 69%	B
50 – 59%	C
40 – 49%	D
0 – 39%	E

Attainment of grade E means a student has failed the course and the student does not get academic credit for the subject. A student who obtains an E grade is allowed to remedy the situation by sitting for a supplementary examination at the end of the academic year or repeating and passing the course in the following academic year depending on the number of courses failed. A supplementary examination will only be available to a student who has failed a maximum of four courses in the academic year. A pass in a supplementary examination will result in an overall E* grade in the subject.

Department

Mechanical

Course link

View Programme Details