The School of Mining Engineering, with 85 years of experience in terms of education and research in the engineering fields of exploration, exploitation and processing of underground resources including minerals and oil, has graduated more than hundreds of experienced and professional engineers who have always had substantial impact on the industrial and economical circles of the country. This school is one of the first departments established at the University of Tehran (UT) using new technologies. Therefore, the treasure of professors, facilities, relationships, and potentials of this school has created great expectations from the academic and industrial communities. One of the important factors for the realization of such potentials is the modernization of education, research and engineering services to the scientific and industrial communities of the country. The strategic importance of exploration, development, and exploitation of oil and gas reservoirs is obvious, and therefore training of experts in these fields can strengthen local capabilities and help the independence of the oil industry. The Petroleum Exploration division is one of the Petroleum Engineering disciplines, which is currently accepting students at postgraduate levels at this college since 1999.

   Among the topics discussed, educated and researched in the field of petroleum exploration, the following ones can be mentioned:

• Processing and modeling of seismic geophysical data for oil exploration
• Processing and modeling of non-seismic geophysical data for oil exploration
• Petrophysics
• Petroleum Geology
• Geostatistical modeling and simulation of oil reservoirs
• Oil Geochemistry
• Oil environmental studies
• Petroleum Geomechanics
• Oil drilling
• Management and design of oil projects
• Technical and economic studies of oil and gas

The tasks and goals of the Petroleum Exploration can be summarized as follows:

• Developing advanced exploration methods for hydrocarbon resources

• Utilizing new methods for data processing, simulation and modeling of hydrocarbon reservoirs

• Implementing a comprehensive rock mechanics research program related to the exploration and production of oil and gas

• Geomechanical studies related to determination of the properties of reservoir rock and cap rock

• Abrasion studies on bit and well tools

• Studies on casing deformation and collapsing in creeping and inflammation formations

• Studies on sand production

• Improving the efficiency of exploiting non-renewable resources through developing methods and optimization of parameters, operations and programs.

Program duration in Master and Ph.D.

Normally, the program duration takes 4 semesters for M.Sc. and 8 semesters for PhD degrees, and the maximum duration is determined by the laws of the Iran's Science, Research and Technology ministry.

The role and ability of alumni:

• Surveying, processing, modeling and interpreting geophysical data for hydrocarbon reservoir exploration
• Surveying, processing, modeling and interpreting organic geochemistry data for assessing source rock and hydrocarbon reservoir exploration
• Processing, modeling and interpreting petrophysical data
• Hydrocarbon reservoir modeling
• Managing oil and gas exploration projects

Courses in Master's Degree (24 units):

The total number of credits required to complete this package is 32 educational-research units. The educational credits consist of 12 mandatory units and 12 optional ones according to the background education and the defined thesis of each student, which are determined by the educational unit. The number of research credits is 8 units, of which 2 units are in the form of a seminar covering mostly theoretical studies, review of publications and the provision of research proposal in relation to the subject of the thesis, and 6 units devoted to the thesis.

Educational and research courses in Master's Degree

   In addition to the above mentioned points, if MSc students have not passed the courses (or equivalent ones) previously at the undergraduate level, they must complete compensatory courses in accordance with their curriculum and with a minimum score of 12. These credits do not count on the units required to complete MSc level. The number of compensatory courses will be based on the field of students in undergraduate level, and is determined by department experts.

Compensatory courses for Petroleum Exploration in Master's Degree

Mandatory Courses for Petroleum Exploration in Master's Degree

Optional Courses for Petroleum Exploration in Master's Degree and PhD

• 12 credits from the optional courses are selected according to educational unit endorsement.
• Dissertation has 6 credits which is mandatory for M.Sc. students.

(Courses in Ph.D. Degree (18 units

• The total number of credits required to complete this package is 36 educational-research units.
• Students must choose 18 credits on the basis of educational unit and supervisor(s) suggestions from the proposed list.
• Dissertation has 18 credits which is mandatory for PhD students.