This academic program is aimed at the industrial needs of specialized competency and comparative lack of opportunities for such courses in Indian technical institutions. The program will also facilitate the need for competent manpower for the global petroleum exploration and production industry. Through this program IIT Kharagpur will develop a state of the art research and development facilities for various aspects of Petroleum Engineering leveraging the availability of interdisciplinary expertise available at IIT Kharagpur from its various academic units. The program will also minimize the existing gap of higher education and academic research in the field of oil and gas engineering in India through appropriate faculty training and induction of young engineers into quality research.

The program would also give exposure to global industrial practices and work environments in the form of internships of adequate duration. Towards this attempt would be made to involve national and international industry such as: Schlumberger, Baker Hughes, ONGC, Total etc. Additionally there will be exposure to R&D programs of international institutions in the area such as : Texas A&M, University of Texas, Austin, University of Oklahoma etc. This would be achieved through collaborative research programs among faculty as well through M. Tech Projects etc.

Academic Programs:
A - 5-Year Integrated B.Tech (Hons.) and M.Tech Program : Such programs are existing at IIT Kharagpur in various departments. For this program, it is envisaged that students would be able to obtain a BTech (Hons.) degree in Mechanical Engg., Chemical Engg. or Mining Engg. and a M. Tech degree in Petroleum Engg.

B - A 6-Year Integrated M.Sc and M.Tech Program : Such a dual degree program is not offered now at IIT Kharagpur. However, the Department of Geology and Geophysics currently offers both a 5 Year-M. Sc. Program and 2-Year M. Tech programs with intake from students with M. Sc. Degree.

Students of the programs of type A would specialize in the verticals of Petroleum Production (PP) and students of the programs of type B would specialize in Petroleum Exploration (PE).

Program Features: In the proposed structure, for Type A programs the first 5 semesters (respectively, 7 semesters for Type B programs) are identical to the corresponding existing Dual-degree programs in Mining Engg. OR Mechanical Engg. OR Chemical Engg. (respectively M.Sc. programs in Applied Geology OR Exploration Geophysics for Type B programs). From the 6th (respectively, 8th) semester the courses in Petroleum Engg. are introduced. The students of Type A programs build their background in Petroleum Engg. in semesters 6 and 7 through two theory courses (Fundamentals of Petroleum Engg. and Well Logging) and two laboratories (Geophysics Lab and Well Logging lab). The students of Type B Programs build their backgrounds in semester 6 through the theory course Fundamentals of Thermofluid Science. The 9th semester of the program (respectively 11th) is earmarked for Industry Internship in the Type A (respectively, Type B) programmes.