Institut Polytechnique LaSalle-Beauvais

Petroleum Engineering Department
19 rue Pierre Waguet
BP 30313
60026 Beauvais Cedex, FRANCE
Phone: +33 (0)3.44.06.89.72
Facsimile: +33 (0)3.44.06.89.70

Department website: www.lasalle-beauvais.fr/lecole/corps-enseignant-et-departements/geosciences

Dean: Dr. Pascal Barrier, Dean of Geosciences
Chair: Dr. Julien Bailleul, Chair of Petroleum Geology

Contact Information

Petroleum Engineering Degree Information

http://www.lasalle-beauvais.fr/formations/ingenieur-lasalle-beauvais-geologie-et-environnement-bac-5/programme-1ere-a-5eme-annee/

* According to the European degrees system

Accreditation

The five-year basic level day program in Geological Engineering major in Petroleum Geology is accredited by the CTI (French Engineer Degree Commission) of the French Ministry of High Education and Research. All courses are evaluated using the European Credits (ECTS) system. The LaSalle-Beauvais Institute is member of the FESIC engineering schools network.

Curriculum Description

The department is located in Beauvais, near Paris. In Petroleum Geology, the geosciences staff is enhanced with industry-experienced engineers and with professors from other universities. Thus the program benefit from lectures and case studies provided by TOTAL, TOTAL Professeurs Associés, the IFP School, GDF-SUEZ, CGG Veritas, SCHLUMBERGER, SPIE, BRGM, IFREMER, The Musée National d’Histoire Naturelle de Paris, The university of Lille, the University of Amiens).
Each year, the Department is also host of the European EAGE Student Lecture Tour

Undergraduate:

The curriculum in petroleum geology is based on solid foundations in mathematics, physics, chemistry, computer science, and engineering sciences with a particular focus on geosciences. All disciplines within geology are covered to great depth (petrography, cartography, sedimentology, structural analysis, geodynamic, …). The program also educates the student in technical communication including English courses, report writing and public speaking.

Specific areas include knowledge of the Petroleum System and of sedimentary basins, principles of E&P, notion of seismic interpretation, geophysics, geostatistics, rock and fluid mechanics, geomatics (GIS and geodesy), image analysis (aerial photographs).

As we educate geologists, the three-year undergraduate program particularly insists on field skills with a total of 3.5 months of field work. In order to obtain the Bachelor degree, students have notably to work on a geological research project during their third year. This work is based on a one month field trip for data acquisition. The achievement of the Bachelor degree required the defense of an acceptable dissertation on this geological research project.

http://www.lasalle-beauvais.fr/formations/ingenieur-lasalle-beauvais-geologie-et-environnement-bac-5/stages-terrain/.

Masters:

The master degree curriculum aims to provide 9 main skills to graduate “ingénieurs” (accredited CTI):

• Knowledge and understanding of a large field of fundamentals sciences
• Ability to use high level of technical knowledge
• Intense training on methods and tools of engineering
• Capability to integrate a firm and to manage a team
• Integration of industrial and economics interests
• Ability to work in an international context
• Notion of societal values like human relationships and sustained development
• Aptitude to innovate as well as to propose and to lead research projects
• Ability to choose its professional orientation and realized its professional insertion

The master degree program in Geological Engineering major in Petroleum Geology provides to the students a clear understanding of petroleum geology principles and practices, as well as economical and managerial competences. Thus, the main tools for the geologists implied in the discovery and optimization of petroleum bearings are given during these two years. The master is addressed to students interested by the Oil and Gas Exploration and production, as well as by the underground CO2 storage problematic. It suppose a particular interest concerning sedimentology in its broad aspects (petrography, facies analysis, diagenesis, sequence stratigraphy, …), structural geology, subsurface data analysis, and geomodelling. Graduates are addressed to work for private or national oil companies, for contractors, for research institutes or can continue with a PhD.

During the first year (Master 1), specific areas include principles of prospect and reservoir evaluation, sequence and seismic stratigraphy (including seismic interpretation using KINGDOM SUITE), well drilling, log analysis, geophysics, petroleum geochemistry, geomatics (GIS and geodesy), image analysis (satellite imaging), fundamentals of marine geology, and several case study. As for the bachelor degree, the formation insists on field skills with 2 weeks of field team management, 1 week of sequence stratigraphy, and visits on onshore drilling rigs. In addition, each student has also to complete one firm internship in the oil industry (three to four months between July and October).

The second year of the Petroleum Geology curriculum (Master 2) offers courses concerning:

1. The characterization of petroleum source rocks, reservoirs and associated seals (petrophysics, sedimentary fluid properties, source rock maturity: 1D SR modelling and burial history using PETROMOD)
2. Diphasic fluid mechanics
3. Petroleum Geophysics (3D seismic)
4. Seismic interpretation (seismic stratigraphy and structural analysis)
5. Deep offshore 1: architecture and dynamic of deep sea fans, risk assessment, impact of industrial activities
6. Deep offshore 2: a one week field trip (Annot Sandstones + boarding for seismic data acquisition and interpretation in the Gulf of Lyon)
7. Coastal Sedimentology (including a one day trip in the Somme bay)
8. Geomodelling of petroleum systems and reservoirs (basin and stratigraphic computer simulation, experimental modelling and gravity-driven tectonics, static numerical modelling, Initiation to PETREL)
9. Underground CO2 and CH4 storage
10. Petroleum projects: economic evaluation and legislation of bearing E&P, strategy of oil companies and energetic challenges
11. Case studies (The Athabasca Oil Sands, …)
12. Team projects (Gulf of Lyon seismic data sets, …)

Each student has also to complete a firm internship (six months between January and June) in the oil industry (internships 2002-2009: TOTAL, GDF, IFP, BEICIP FRANLAB, CGG Veritas, SCHLUMBERGER, SPIE, IFREMER, BRGM, STATEOILHYDRO, SONATRACH, SOCIETE DE MAINTENANCE PETROLIERE, ERMS, PEBERCAN, GEOSERVICES, GEOREX, CONOCOPHILLIPS, DONG).

For selected applicant, the department proposes a dual degree agreement with the IFP School. In addition, the department offers the possibility for some LaSalle-Beauvais students to spend one academic year abroad in order to obtain a dual degree with the Imperial College. These students, studying for example in the MSc Petroleum Geosciences of the Imperial College, receive full transfer credit back to LaSalle-Beauvais. In both cases, applicants must earn a scholarship from the oil industry.

http://www.lasalle-beauvais.fr/formations/ingenieur-lasalle-beauvais-geologie-et-environnement-bac-5/stages/.

Program Admission Requirements

Undergraduate:

Criteria in the freshman admission decision include: (1) achievement of the Baccalauréat, the French equivalent of A-Level, (2) grades or marks earned in High School or College, (3) rank in class, (4) aptitude test scores (national tests of the FESIC engineering schools network), (5) results of an individual interview with members of the Geosciences staff, (6) motivation, quality and diversity of extra-scholar activities, and (7) submission of all required credentials by the official deadline.

Masters:

For graduate admission in the Petroleum Geology Master, an applicant must have received a Bachelor of Science degree in Geosciences engineering from our three-year undergraduate program. The defense of an acceptable dissertation (Master thesis), as well as a 750 score on the TOEIC, are required for the MSc degree.

Five applicants from other universities of recognized standing can reached the program at the beginning of the Master 1. They must submit an official transcript in order to justify good scores from all previous studies. The applicant must also submit a statement of purpose, a current CV, and possible letters of recommendation. Students must have achieved high placement in the upper levels of their class and also show motivation, with a good potential to become a petroleum geologist, as well as promise of excellent scholarship. If needed, a leveling work in geosciences has to be completed, depending on the student’s background and experience.

Faculty Information

Cumulative Degrees Awarded

Curriculum Analysis