FAQ

**What is the duration of your programmes?**

The PG courses have a duration of 12 months.

**Is accommodation available?**

Yes, the fee includes visa fee, transportation and accommodation in UAE. But accommodation facility is not provided in Bangalore/Cochin Centre.

**Who will I be taught by?**

Teaching faculties includes experts from the petroleum industry as well as universities.

**What are the entry requirements?**

Entry qualification for Post Graduate programme in Drilling Engineering is Science graduation (BSc/BTech/ BE) or Technical Diploma with 2 year experience and entry qualification for Post Graduate programme in Oil and Gas Management is a Graduation in any discipline or Diploma with 2 year experience.

**What are my career prospects when I complete the course?**

Our strong reputation and links with potential employers provide you with outstanding opportunities to secure interesting jobs and develop successful careers. Our careers team support you while you are studying and following graduation with workshops, careers fairs, vacancy information and one-to-one support. The increasing interest in sustainability and corporate and social responsibility has enhanced the career prospects of our post graduates.

**How is the course structured?**

The course is divided into three parts, a taught element delivered during the first few months, a group project, and the research project normally completed over the summer months.

**How is the course assessed?**

The course is assessed by in-module and group project assessment, one written exam, assessment of the project thesis and viva. Module assessments may take the form of written reports, presentations, tests or a combination of any of these.

**What exactly is the oil and gas industry?**

A. The offshore industry employs 8,380,000 people with a further 5,100,000 employed in export sales. Careers are varied and range from chemical, process and drilling engineers and drilling, reservoir and project specialists to geologists, geoscientists, riggers, scaffolders and maintenance technicians.

<span style="color: #302920; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: justify;">**How quickly will I be promoted?**

<span style="color: #302920; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: justify;">A. Promotion offshore tends to be quicker than in other jobs. In the drilling sector it isn't unknown for someone to start as a roustabout and to have reached tool pusher level in a little over five years. It all comes down to the attitude of the individual and the desire to work hard and grow.

<span style="color: #302920; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: justify;">**Is it a long-term industry for me to pursue a career in?**

<span style="color: #302920; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: justify;">A. Oil and gas is one of the world's largest and most important industries. The North Sea will be around for a long time yet (30 years plus) and offers an exciting career and rewarding lifestyle. Forecasts show world offshore oil production will rise by more than a third and world gas production by two thirds by 2010. More and more exploration is taking place offshore and in increasingly deeper waters. A large number of offshore fields are currently being developed in areas such as West Africa and Asia-Pacific. There should be a very high rate of growth in offshore gas production as new markets for electricity generation and liquefied natural gas (LNG) are developed.

<span style="color: #302920; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: justify;">**Who employs people offshore/onshore?**

<span style="color: #302920; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: justify;">Different types of company employ people offshore:

<span style="color: #302920; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: justify;">Operating companies hold the exploration and production licenses and operate the production facilities. Some of them are household names, but others are less well known. Most of them are international companies, working in many different parts of the world. <span style="color: #302920; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: justify;">Drilling companies are contracted to undertake the drilling work, and often operate and maintain their own mobile drilling rigs. Like the operating companies, they tend to work globally. <span style="color: #302920; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: justify;">Major contractors provide integrated operations and maintenance services to the operating companies. On some installations they employ almost all the regular offshore personnel (the 'core crew'). Some of these contractors are huge international companies, while others are small in comparison. <span style="color: #302920; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: justify;">FPSO operators operate and maintain floating production storage and offloading units. These look like ships, but are designed to remain on station for months or even years on end, and are packed with equipment for processing oil and gas. <span style="color: #302920; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: justify;">Service companies provide specialist assistance to both operating and drilling companies, e.g. well service firms, drilling mud suppliers, cementing companies, well testing specialists, seismic firms, divers, caterers, etc.

<span style="color: #302920; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: justify;">**What actually happens offshore?**

<span style="color: #302920; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: justify;">The popular image of offshore work often centres on a muddy drill floor, where wells are drilled to target the reservoirs of oil and gas below the surface - but this is only the beginning of the story. <span style="color: #302920; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: justify;">The top end of each production well sprouts a branching series of pipes, gauges and valves called the 'Christmas tree'. At this point, crude oil is a hot, frothy, corrosive, high pressure fluid containing gas, water and sand. <span style="color: #302920; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: justify;">After separation, the crude oil is metered and pumped into the pipeline, or stored until sent ashore by tanker. <span style="color: #302920; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: justify;">The gas separated from the oil may be used for fuel, or compressed and piped to shore or re-injected into the reservoir. Any gas that cannot be used is burnt in the platform's flare, very little gas is now flared. <span style="color: #302920; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: justify;">Processing systems for the gas fields of the southern North Sea are relatively simple. The gas liquids are removed and then the gas is compressed, cooled, dehydrated and metered before being piped to shore. <span style="color: #302920; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: justify;">All production and drilling systems have to be monitored constantly for leaks, since oil and gas are hazardous and extremely flammable. <span style="color: #302920; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: justify;">There is no mains electricity offshore! Power has to be generated on the installation to drive production and drilling equipment, and to support life. <span style="color: #302920; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: justify;"> In other words, offshore installations are packed with complex equipment and systems that need to be operated and maintained safely by highly skilled people who understand the technology and the processes involved, and who can work together in integrated teams.