The EU's Best Universities for an Oil Career

Italy

Taking a look at the résumés of senior executives at leading Italian oil firm Eni S.p.A. reveals that most of the company's management team hold fairly traditional degrees such as physics, mechanical engineering and economics from a variety of Italian universities. However, what worked for one generation of Italians may not necessarily be the correct course for a subsequent generation looking to get into an oil and gas career. Today's young Italians (as well as international students) may smooth their entry into the energy industry by taking an oil and gas-focused master's degree at Perugia or Turin.

Perugia University (Università degli Studi di Perugia)

Perugia University has 31,000 students enrolled on a broad spectrum of courses, ranging from engineering, natural sciences and medicine to arts and humanities.

The university runs a two-year master's degree in 'petroleum geology' that is designed to give the student the ability to carry out all the professional activities required of a professional geologist specializing in oil and gas.

By the end of the course, students will have acquired a thorough knowledge of the main areas of earth sciences that characterize the activity of exploration and development, and an adequate knowledge of specialized fields of petroleum geology.

In order to gain the master's qualification, students have to write a thesis in either English or Italian.

The course is supported by Italian oil major Eni, which provides some professors for vocational disciplines as well as funding field and laboratory activities.

Polytechnic University of Turin (Politecnico di Torino)

A leading institution for the study of engineering in Italy, the Polytechnic University of Turin has around 32,000 students – of which around 15 percent are foreign (the greatest proportion of foreign students at any Italian university).

The university's Department of Environment, Land and Infrastructure Engineering has a two-year 'petroleum engineering' master's degree that is taught in English. The aim of the course is to train engineers who will then be able to begin working immediately in the oil and gas sector.

By the end of the course, students will be able to analyze hydrocarbon deposits both for quantity of reserves and production capacity, and will identify the best strategies for producing oil and/or natural gas based not only on technical feasibility but also economic and environmental sustainability, according to the university.

Specific engineering subjects learned by the student include: techniques for the drilling and completion of oil wells; techniques for exploitation of deposits through extraction or oil and natural gas; and above-ground chemical treatment of oil and natural gas to obtain energy-producing petroleum products.

The Netherlands

The Netherlands has a number of well-regarded and well-established universities, and it is common in that country for degree courses to be taught in English. Delft University of Technology, in particular, has several courses that are connected to the oil and gas sector.

Delft University of Technology

Delft University of Technology boasts the current CEO of Royal Dutch Shell plc, Ben van Beurden, as an alumnus (he holds a chemical engineering degree from the university). Of its 18,000-plus student population international students account for almost 3,000.

The university offers the usual 'electrical engineering' and 'mechanical engineering' degrees at bachelor's level as well as an oil and gas-related 'marine technology' undergraduate degree. At postgraduate level, it has a two-year Master of Science degree in 'petroleum engineering and geosciences' as well as 'applied earth sciences', 'marine technology' and 'offshore engineering' master's degrees. All master's degrees are taught in English.

Norway

With its North Sea reserves, it is no surprise that Norway has a number of universities that offer suitable courses for Norwegian speakers looking to get into the oil and gas industry. Bergen University, for example, offers bachelor's degrees in 'petroleum and process technology' and 'geoscience', along with a number of oil and gas industry-related master's courses. However, international students with good English looking for a course in Norway should check out the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.

Norwegian University of Science and Technology

Located in Trondheim, in the north of Norway, the Norwegian University of Science and Technology has some 23,000 students, including some 2,600 international students.

For English speakers there are a range of master's degree courses available at the university. These include Master of Science degrees in 'petroleum engineering', 'petroleum geosciences', 'natural gas technology' and 'marine technology'.

Both the 'petroleum engineering' and 'petroleum geosciences' degree courses focus specifically on exploration and production of oil and gas on the Norwegian Continental Shelf as well as methods for increased oil recovery on the NCS. They also offer opportunities for students to specialize in areas such as drilling technology, petroleum production, reservoir technology, petroleum geology/geophysics, seismology and reservoir seismology.