The objective of the KOC-OU Research & Graduate Program in Kuwaitis to develop Educational and Research programs to serve the needs of the oil industry in Kuwait and to promote strong ties between KOC (Kuwait Oil Company) and the University of Oklahoma.
This is a graduate program specifically designed for engineers working for Kuwait Oil Company and wanting to continue their studies without having to leave their job.
Kuwaiti students enrolled in this program will be treated exactly as if they were in Norman, Oklahoma, i.e. they must satisfy OU’s requirements, complete the same coursework, maintain high grade-point average, and complete their research project within the required time. The number of students per cohort is ten to fifteen students.
The courses will be taught by OU professors and all research projects for MS theses and PhD dissertations will be supervised by OU professors. OU will have full responsibility for the planning and implementation of the Program including administration, programming, curriculum content, instruction, faculty appointment and requirements for matriculation, promotion and graduation.
With the exception of the Project Director, MPGE professors are expected to teach courses in Kuwait only during Summer. The grant has enough funds to hire one or two Adjunct Professors to teach courses in Kuwait during the Fall and Spring Semesters.
1. OU will award Kuwaiti students enrolled in the Program who have met all of OU’s requirements for particular graduate degrees, the appropriate University of Oklahoma graduate degrees upon graduation; therefore, applicants to this program must satisfy OU’s admission requirements and other applicable rules and policies of OU with regard to its academic programs, as may be set forth in the OU Graduate Bulletin and elsewhere.
2. OU professors will teach petroleum engineering courses offered in Kuwait in an accelerated format (five to six weeks per course). Teaching in Kuwait is equivalent to teaching in Norman.
3. OU agrees to offer a minimum of six graduate petroleum engineering courses during the first year of the Program, with the intent to offer at least six graduate petroleum engineering courses in the second year. These courses will be essentially the same as the ones taught at its Norman Campus, i.e. course content, assignments, reports, examinations and number of class hours.
4. All aspects of the Program are performed in Kuwait, except the dissertation defense. Doctoral students are required to spend at least the last semester of their program on the main OU campus in Norman, Oklahoma. If the students are unable to get a visa, then the thesis/doctoral committee must go to Kuwait (Force Majeure case).
5. Dr. Djebbar Tiab, Program Director, working with the Oklahoma College of Continuing Education (OCCE), the Graduate College, the Mewbourne College of Earth and Energy, and the Mewbourne School of Petroleum and Geological Engineering (MPGE), will, in OU’s sole and exclusive discretion, administer all academic aspects of the Program. He will also serve as the Graduate Liaison of the Program.
KOC Obligations
1. KOC agrees to recruit only qualified, suitable, Kuwaiti students who meet OU’s requirements and who have completed satisfactorily any didactic prerequisites and to submit their applications to the College of Continuing Education of the University of Oklahoma (OCCE).
2. KOC shall provide the proper and suitable academic facilities, accommodations and resources for course instruction and research supervision to OU professors and Program students during the entire term of this Agreement, including computers, a Petroleum Engineering library, and research laboratories.
3. KOC agrees to provide to OU Faculty the proper and suitable means of transportation during the term of their stay in Kuwait to instruct, supervise, and/or provide other education related services hereunder.
Coursework Phase
MS students are expected to complete 8 courses plus thesis (thesis option) or 12 courses plus comprehensive exam (non-thesis option). Doctoral students are expected to complete 8 to 12 courses. These courses will be selected from the following tentative list of courses:
PE 5553 Advances in Well Test Analysis
PE 6253 Advanced Petrophysics
PE 5243 Intro to Rock Mechanics
PE 5990 Heavy Oil & Thermal Operations
PE 5433 Horizontal Well Technology
PE 5423 Advanced Stimulation
PE 5353 Advanced Drilling Engineering
PE 5990 Advanced Production Engineering
PE 6573 Advanced Oil Reservoir Engineering
PE 6443 Petroleum Production Systems: Optimization
PE 5563 Math Simulation Models
PE 5990 Reservoir Simulation
PE 5990 Gas Injection: Hydrocarbons & CO2
PE 5613 Natural Gas Engineering
PE 5443 Formation Damage
PE 5990 Naturally Fractured Carbonate Reservoirs: Characterization, Modeling & Simulation
PE 5423 Advanced Stimulation
PE 5533 Petroleum Reservoir Development
PE 5990 Introduction to Geostatistics|
The Program Director will send to KOC at least three months in advance the actual courses to be offered by OU.
The entire program for the doctoral students in the first cohort will be finalized during the Advisory Conference in the summer 2008.
Deficiency Courses
Applicants to the program who have degrees in other engineering fields, i.e. other than Petroleum Engineering, e.g. Chemical Engineers, Mechanical Engineers… may be admitted to the Graduate Program on the condition they complete coursework deficiencies in Petroleum Engineering. Outstanding candidates with a sustained field experience in Petroleum Engineering will not be required to take the deficiency courses. Coursework deficiencies will be determined by the Program Director. Deficiency courses will not be counted as part of the student’s MS or doctoral program. A typical list of deficiency courses in Petroleum Engineering is as follows:
Properties of Reservoir Rock and Fluids
Drilling & Well Completions, Well logging
Reservoir Engineering & Production
Doctoral Dissertation and Residence Requirement
Kuwaiti students may satisfy the residence requirement by:
(a) Spending at least the last semester of their program on the main campus in Norman (August 1 – December 31, 2010) or (January 1 – May 30, 2011), which is equivalent to twenty one (21) weeks; and
(b) OU professors will also interact with their students during the 5 to 6 weeks they are in Kuwait to teach courses. OU Professors are expected to teach at least six courses per year. Thus, OU Professors would spend a total of thirty (30) weeks (6 courses x 5 weeks) in Kuwait.
(c) Traveling to Norman (assuming they can have a visa) as often as necessary to be with their supervisor for periods of up to two weeks at a time, especially during the research phase of their program.
(d) It is expected that OU professors involved in the Kuwaiti graduate program to travel to Kuwait (at least once a year for periods of one to two weeks each) to oversee the research projects of the candidate, especially during:
The formal stages of his/her final preparation for the General Examination,
The writing of the dissertation and
The formal stages of his/her final preparation for the Thesis/Dissertation Defense.
These visits of students to Norman and OU professors to Kuwait (to teach and supervise research) will add up to a lot more than two semesters of interaction between the student and his supervisor.
Faculty Exchange
To enhance the proposed program faculty from the University of Oklahoma would be encouraged to spend a sabbatical leave period in Kuwait (normally one academic semester) pursuing collaborative research endeavors in Kuwait, or teaching a specialized training course developed to meet a specific need of importance to the Kuwaiti petroleum industry, or providing technical services to Kuwaiti oil companies. Reciprocal to this, individuals from the Kuwaiti petroleum industry could spend a sabbatical period at the University of Oklahoma to participate in teaching activities at the undergraduate and graduate level and/or pursuing collaborative research endeavors with other faculty at the University of Oklahoma.
The exact details of such faculty exchange opportunities would need to be developed and documented to ensure the program is mutually beneficial to the parties involved. It is proposed that this aspect of the program be investigated and an acceptable plan be developed during the first year of the program. In this manner such faculty exchange opportunities could possibly be implemented during the second year of the program.
1.5 – Administrative Responsibilities of Program Director
Dr. Djebbar Tiab will serve as the Program Director and Graduate Liaison for the entire duration of OU’s Graduate Program in Kuwait. He is responsible for many aspects of the Graduate Program in Kuwait including:
1) Submit an annual report to KOC and request funds for incoming years.
2) Review the graduate program every year and make appropriate recommendations to the University of Oklahoma and KOC.
3) Advising and enrollment of students.
4) Planning of examination sessions including: Theses Defense, Advisory Conference, PhD Qualifying Examination, General Examination and PhD Dissertation defense.
5) Administering the PhD Qualifying Examination in Kuwait.
6) Send schedule of courses to KOC at least three months in advance.
7) Coordinate with KOC the travel plans of OU professors to Kuwait to teach and/or supervise.
8) Coordinate with KOC and OU the travel plans of Kuwaiti students to Oklahoma for research supervision and dissertation defense
9) Coordinate thesis and doctoral committee meetings.
10) Coordinate research aspects of program, including submission of research proposals with other OU faculty to KOC.
11) Teach and supervise theses and/or doctoral Dissertation of students.
2 - RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
The research objectives of the KOC – OU Research & Graduate Program are:
To develop advanced petroleum science and technology to solve technical problems unique to Kuwaiti reservoirs.
To conduct research studies to develop and enhance oil production capacities and oil reserves.
To collaborate with the oil production sector in establishing solutions to improve oil production efficiency.
To develop simulators and mathematical models for Kuwaiti oil reservoirs.
Some of these objectives will be met through research projects for thesis and/or dissertation, others through research projects funded separately by KOC. KOC and OU have agreed to negotiate in good faith to develop letter agreements to formalize details of all aspects of research activities not related directly to the MS thesis or PhD dissertation.
KOC wants to develop experts through research. The areas of research interest to KOC are:
The majority of Kuwaitis oil reservoirs are in an advanced state of depletion by primary production mechanisms. However, there is far more oil yet to be recovered from these reservoirs. Implementation of Enhanced Oil Recovery methods, such as gas flooding and thermal flooding, to improve the recovery factors from these reservoirs is a crucial issue to KOC. KOC is giving the following EOR processes the highest priority.
Gas Injection processes: CO2 injection, Hydrocarbon gas injection
Application and optimization of “Smart completion”
Artificial lift by Electrical Submersible Pumps (ESP), Progressing Cavity Pumps (PCP) and gas lifting.
Stimulation of the matrix and fracturing of reservoirs (Clastic and Carbonates)
Research to prevent emulsion and to counter H2S, CO2 and other corrosive gasses.
3 – WATER MANAGEMENT
Water management technologies are essential to Kuwait Oil Company having a direct impact on oil production and - recovery and the environment. As KOC progresses from dry production through a mixture of dry and wet production to totally wet production, the management of the water cycle becomes more and more critical to the achievement of KOC’s production goals. KOC considers the following areas critical:
sub surface water management,
water flooding and
surface water management
4 – HEAVY OIL & THERMAL OPERATIONS
One of the major resources in Kuwait is the heavy Oil located in Wafra, North Kuwait and Umm Gudair. Implementation of EOR methods for heavy oil such as Cold Production and Thermal Flooding, to improve the recovery factors from these reservoirs is a crucial issue to ensure the optimum development of these resources. Therefore, understanding the key factors governing the performance of EOR methods in these reservoirs is critical for KOC.
5 – RESERVOIR CHARACTERIZATION
The following areas of research are considered important to KOC:
1 – Geophysics
2 – Petrophysics
3 – Naturally Fractured Reservoirs, and
4 – Reservoir Simulation
