We recently caught up with Dr Ian Watkinson from the Department of Earth Sciences to find out more about MSc in Petroleum Geoscience
Q1. What areas can students expect to study in MSc Petroleum Geoscience?
Students will learn key scientific, technical and vocational skills during the MSc programme. You'll follow a typical exploration pathway, starting with regional screening concepts such as geodynamics, plate tectonics and flexure, before moving on to how basins form and deform, including analysis of stress and strain in different structural settings. Next you'll learn how to investigate the subsurface using geophysical methods and well logging and about the materials that fill sedimentary basins, including clastics, carbonates, and the principles of sequence stratigraphy. Finally you will consider petroleum systems, looking at source rock maturation, play elements and play fairways, unconventional reservoirs and concepts of risk, uncertainty and economics.
Q2. What do you think makes this course different from similarly titled courses on offer across the UK?
Our MSc in Petroleum Geosicence is regarded amongst the 5 best programmes in the UK for students aiming to enter the petroleum geoscience industry. Our programme is distinct from others by having a clear focus on exploration. More than that we produce graduates who are renowned for their fundamental 'geoscience' skills - the ability to observe, interpret, assess uncertainty and consider multiple hypotheses - making them valuable and flexible industry geoscientists. We have a rich fieldwork programme (UK, Spanish Pyrenees) that ensures students balance the theory and workstation-based elements of their knowledge with the practical and inter-personal skills that come from immersive field geology.
Q3. What are the entry requirements for this degree?
We require a 2:1 or better in a subject such as geology or geophysics. Students with lower classifications or other degrees may be eligible if they have significant appropriate work experience. Please contact the course director ( ian.watkinson@rhul.ac.uk) if you are unsure.
Q4. What prospects would students studying this course benefit from?
Our MSc programme is designed to ensure graduates are perfectly positioned to enter work in most areas of the geoscience industry, but particularly in petroleum exploration. We achieve this in part by close collaboration with our Industry Advisory Board, made up of senior industry geologists, many of whom teach modules on the programme and/or supervise summer research projects. The Advisory Board ensures our programme contains all the elements (scientific, technical and vocational) necessary for an early career petroleum geoscientist. In particular, we provide opportunities for networking, attending conferences, team working, presentations, project management and CV/interview skills.
Q5. What are some highlights of RHUL's MSc in Petroleum Geoscience?
Our MSc programme is now 34 years old, and has trained 766 students from 56 countries around the world. Graduates work in oil companies, consultancies and service industries globally. Most are employed in roles such as geophysicists or geologists, and work in companies including Shell, BP, Woodside, Total, Petronas, Pertamina, Azinam, Spectrum, Neftex, Equinor and many others. A significant number of our graduates also go on to study for a PhD degree. Each year our MSc students enter the international 'Imperial Barrel Award' competition, and have had great success, including winning the global final in 2015. Students have won the 'GSL/Halliburton Earth Model Award' in 2017 and 2018, which includes a paid trip to present their work at an international conference in Houston. Many others have gone on to publish their MSc research project in peer-reviewed journals.
Find out more about MSc in Petroleum Geoscience.