Science Engineering

Today's oil industry is actively seeking ways to improve the efficiency of hydrocarbon exploration and production processes, including digitalization.

The Master's degree in Scientific Engineering trains specialists who are able to develop IT solutions and products to solve current problems in the oil and gas industry.

TPU is ranked first among 150 Russian universities in the QS World Oil and Gas Ranking. Students of the program study at the Heriot-Watt Center of TPU.

You will learn to

Create complex projects for oil and gas field development

Develop algorithms for analyzing geological and geophysical data

Use machine learning methods to solve field development problems

Write code using the Python programming language

Create prototypes of industry software and IT products

Bring innovative IT products to market

Work with the software programs Petrel, PipeSim, tNavigator, Techlog, Darcy, FracproPT, Saphir, Topaze, Ecrin, Eclipse, etc.

How the program works

First year of the Master's program

The program is divided into several modules of 1-3 weeks each. All classroom activities (lectures, labs) occur during the first year of the program. The program also includes group and individual projects. The modules are taught by professionals from oil companies.

Group Project. A team of students creates an oil and gas field development project exactly the way it is done in oil and gas companies. The project includes analyzing field data, building geological and hydrodynamic models, estimating reserves, designing a development system, creating a drilling plan and well structure, analyzing uncertainties, risks and economic calculations.

Individual Project. The student conducts research in one of the areas of petroleum engineering. The work on the project is supervised by mentors from the university and companies specialized in the chosen subject.

At the end of the first year, students can obtain an additional professional retraining diploma (microdegree), which opens wider employment opportunities.

Second year of the Master's program

The second year is entirely devoted to practical work. Students can choose between two tracks:

Track 1 - Company Work. Students with good academic performance may receive a job offer and start working in oil and gas companies - partners of the university.

Track 2 - Project work. It is possible to work on real tasks of oil and gas companies directly at the university. Students can choose one or more projects, join a team of experts or start their own research.

Laboratories and equipment

During the training, students use the equipment and infrastructure of the School of Earth Sciences and Engineering and the Heriot-Watt Center of TPU.

• teaching and research laboratories (drilling and plugging fluids, rock fracture, directional drilling, reservoir physics and underground hydrodynamics, physical and chemical processes in oil and gas production, hydrodynamic studies of wells);

• 3D-visualization room (visually demonstrates the field model and the development process);

• training and laboratory complex for working with cores (collection of cores of terrigenous and carbonate reservoirs, data of geophysical studies of wells, tables of filtration-capacitance properties);

• “mirror” production control and well construction control centers (work with real-time field data for skills training and development of new technologies);

• computer classrooms (modern licensed software with training systems and simulators).

How to enroll

1. Register on the Heriot-Watt Center website and fill in the questionnaire, then apply for admission on the TPU website. 

2. Take an online English test to assess your level of English.

3. Take the online interview, ask all the questions to the faculty members.

4. Submit your original educational documents by mail or in person to Tomsk Polytechnic University.

Fill in the questionnaire 

Apply for admission

Employment opportunities

Work in the industry or academia - choose your career path. The program graduates work in corporate departments for oil and gas asset development and support, digitization, artificial intelligence, software development, and business analytics. The starting salary for a graduate of this program is on average 20-30% higher than the starting salary in the industry.