Mature Field Management
Entry requirements
Masters (MSc) level entry applicants must have one of the following:
- Minimum of 2:1 honours degree or equivalent academic qualification in a related subject area.
- For postgraduate conversion courses, non-related degrees will be considered.
Corporate (or chartered) membership of relevant professional institutions will also be considered
Candidates who do not meet the above entry requirements or have no formal academic qualifications will be considered individually based on their CV and possibly interview. Admission via this route will be at the discretion of the Director of Recruitment.
Recognition of prior learning
We are committed to providing study opportunities to applicants who have a wide range of prior experiences through Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL). For more information on RPL, please contact the Admissions Team (studywithus@hw.ac.uk) ahead of application. We can only consider requests for RPL at the time of application to a course of study.
English language requirements
If English is not the applicant’s first language a minimum of IELTS 6.5 or equivalent is required with all elements passed at 6.0 or above. Please refer to English language requirements for further details.
Some applicants may be asked for alternative evidence in line with UKVI recognised English speaking countries. Applicants who have previously successfully completed courses delivered in the medium of English language may be considered and will be required to provide documentary evidence of this. Examples would be secondary school education or undergraduate degree. A minimum of at least one year of full time study (or equivalent) in the medium of English language will be required.
All evidence of English language needs to be dated within two years of the commencement of study.
We also offer a range of English language courses to help you meet the English language requirement prior to starting your master’s programme:
- 20 weeks English (for IELTS of 5.0 with no skill lower than 4.5)
- 14 weeks English (for IELTS of 5.0 with minimum of 5.0 in writing and no skill lower than 4.5)
- 10 weeks English (for IELTS of 5.5 with no skill lower than 5.0)
- 6 weeks English (for IELTS 5.5 with no skill lower than 5.5)
Months of entry
September
Course content
The bulk of the world’s hydrocarbons come from producing assets – so-called 'mature fields'. In turn, these supply the bulk of the world’s energy.
Managing these assets is therefore a central aspect of global energy supply and will become more so as the world’s giant fields become progressively more mature. Most industry jobs in exploration and production will be in this arena, requiring a talented workforce to fill them for decades to come.
Heriot-Watt's Institute of GeoEnergy Engineering has therefore created a Masters programme to address this need. The topical content is broader than the existing programmes, embracing not only geoscience, reservoir and well engineering but also surface engineering and the linkage between them in the form of Integrated Asset Management (IAM).
The subject also demands a grasp of incremental petroleum economics and risk analysis, and a methodology for handling decision-making in assets in which production and data gathering are continuous. This methodology provides the link between the programme components and sits at the core of the group exercise, with Edinburgh’s own Forth Bridge as a visual metaphor for the process.
Finally, the programme deals with the asset endgame. When does production cease, how can field life be extended, how do we decommission (or then recommission) and what are the potential uses of these reservoirs in the post-carbon era
Fees and funding
Qualification, course duration and attendance options
- MSc
- full time12 months
- Campus-based learningis available for this qualification
- part time24 months
- Campus-based learningis available for this qualification
Course contact details
- Name
- Admissions Office
- studywithus@hw.ac.uk