Earth Sciences and Petroleum Engineering (MTGEOP)

NB! Programme split in 2008 The programme "Earth Sciences and Petroleum Engineering" was split into two new advanced engineering programmes in 2008:

Geotechnology (Master's program, 5 years)

Petroleum Geoscience and Engineering (Master's program, 5 years)

Related international master's programmes: MSc in Petroleum Engineering / Petroleum Geosciences (2 years)

Our degree programmes are interdisciplinary and open for cooperation across traditional subject divisions. Geology, environment and recovery engineering, geophysics, drilling, petroleum production, reservoir engineering, petrophysics and extraction of minerals are central subject which require knowledge within several fields. Norway is one of the large oil nations in the world. At times, the media gives us the impression that our oil resources are depleted. The fact is that Norway can produce oil for at least another 50 years and gas for another 100 years. Only 1/3 of the oil and gas resources discovered on the Norwegian continental shelf have been produced so far, and we expect to discover just as much as we have extracted.

Our country has a long mining tradition, and today the rock and mineral industry stands out as a growth industry. NTNU is the only university in Norway educating experts to this industry.

The use of the bedrock for various purposes is growing in importance, for instance in connection with communication, for recreation and storage purposes. In this area, Norway is a pioneer.

Recovering of materials and fighting pollution are some of the major tasks in the future. A majority of the environmental stress we inflict upon our surroundings can be avoided by using and developing geoscientific knowledge. During the first two years you will build up a theoretical foundation in scientific subjects, geosciences in particular. To prepare our students for a future occupation where geo and petroleum data are treated with modern IT software, computer studies are incorporated into the programme.

Field Studies

Geosciences involve a great deal of field studies and excursions as a part of the teaching. This is a useful and interesting way of learning about nature and the geological processes, and is highly popular among the students.

The field studies in the foundational course in Geology are primarily carried out in the county of Trøndelag where NTNU is situated. The advanced courses also include field studies in the Oslo area, in the northern region Finnmark, at Svalbard, in Great Britain and Spain.

Field studies and excursions are equally important in the engineering and technology subjects as they are in the geosciences. Here the students visit plants and industrial enterprises of various sizes all over the country, or tunnel and construction projects. We also visit natural areas that require special measures as regards the environment. Excursions and field studies change from year to year in order to make the studies as up-to-date as possible.

Multiple opportunities - Specialization fields of study:

In your third year, you choose your field of study depending on whether you wish to specialize within oil and gas, mineral resources, technical geology, or environmental and recovery engineering.

• oil and gas
• mineral resources
• technical geology
• environmental and recovery engineering

We have excellent exchange arrangements with universities abroad, and several students choose to study one year abroad. This education qualifies for work within all parts of Norwegian and foreign industry. Most of our candidates find jobs in the oil, rock and mineral industries, building and construction, public administration and research. An increasing number of our candidates work with environmental activities.

Electronic learning

The development of internet-based learning tools has become highly important. In recent years, several interactive learning courses have been developed where students may sit by their computers and have different problems presented to them. This work is supported by Statoil.

Want to study abroad?

Our students may take their fourth year at a university or university college abroad (subject to approval), and at the University Centre in Svalbard (UNIS). Our conditions is that our students take credits that amount to one year of full-time studies, and that the courses to the extent possible are equivalent to the compulsory and elective courses in the fourth year at NTNU. The student must have passed all exams before the application for studies abroad is approved.

More and more students take their fourth year abroad, at ever more exotic destinations. For the time being, Australia and Brazil are at the top, but also countries such as Nepal, Japan, USA, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Germany and Great Britain are quite popular.

Complementary studies for engineers

Few university colleges include geology and geophysics in their study programmes. For this reason, students from engineering colleges who wish to follow a course in Geosciences and petroleum technology must take foundational courses within these subjects before they can get down to the more applicable engineering subjects. Hence, students cannot automatically be placed directly in the fourth year (the exception is students from Stavanger University College), as they lack basic knowledge in geology/geophysics. Students from engineering colleges who apply for admission to the third or fourth year are subject to an individual evaluation and placing based on their previous education.

Field of study: Petroleum Technology

Here we educate professionals within drilling, reservoir engineering and petroleum production. The depths of the wells are increasing with more and longer horizontal branchings. Reservoir engineers continuously develop improved tools to be able to predict the production of an oil field. Once a field has been “drained”, more than 50% of the oil is often still left in the reservoir, which is why it is important to develop methods to improve the extraction rate. Petroleum production at great water depths present challenges both as regards the development of underwater production equipment and platform solutions.

Field of study: Petroleum Geosciences and Resource Geology

On this course we educate professionals who search for and extract geological resources from the subsoil. Through geological subjects we provide knowledge about the geological premises for the formation of natural resources such as oil and gas, ores and industrial minerals in the earth’s crust.

We use geophysical methods to establish and map these resources. Seismology provides huge amounts of data which are fed into powerful computers before they are interpreted and used to create a geological image of the subsoil.

Field of study: Environmental and Recovery Engineering

The recycling and recovery industry is currently one of the world's fastest growing industries. By developing more environmentally-friendly industry production and by recycling resources we will be able to reduce the environmental load significantly. Waste deposited in the environment, for instance at a dumpsite, affects the environment. Toxic substances can leak and be spread into the soil and ground water. Ground water is one of our most important resources, but it can also represent a problem in connection with leakage in tunnels and mountain halls. Water is also a medium for transportation of natural and human-made pollution. You will learn how water behave in the ground and how water is affected by the surrounding materials and human-made activities and thus solve problems related to water in the ground and the optimal exploitation of ground water as a resource.

Engineers from Environmental and Recovery Engineering are well qualified for working with these challenges.

Field of study: Technical Geology

This course offers specialization within geology engineering/rock engineering or mineral production. Geology engineering/rock engineering provides knowledge about how we may use rock as a constructional foundation. In the development of our infrastructure, particularly in urban areas, tunnels and rock constructions are growing in importance. Mineral production includes methods for extraction and processing of raw materials such as ores and industry minerals, as well as raw materials for construction such as sand, gravel, crushed and natural stone.