PE Petroleum study guide
PE Petroleum · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The Principles and Practice of Engineering (PE) Petroleum exam is NCEES's discipline-specific licensure examination for petroleum engineers. It tests for a minimum level of competency expected of an engineer practicing independently, and it is designed for engineers with at least four years of post-college work experience in the discipline. The exam is computer-based and, because petroleum has a comparatively small examinee population, it is administered on a single day, once per year; the next scheduled date is October 27, 2026. Candidates may reserve a Pearson test-center seat up to a year in advance once they have registered with NCEES and been approved by their licensing board, and early reservation is encouraged. Topics on this exam: Reservoir Engineering, Drilling and Completion Engineering, and Production and Facilities Engineering. The PE Petroleum study guide has 3 sections and about 817 words.
01Reservoir Engineering Fundamentals
Candidates must be fluent in porosity, absolute and effective permeability, wettability, capillary pressure, and relative permeability. Relative permeability curves control fractional flow, and water saturation reaches irreducible saturation at the left endpoint. On the fluid side, understand PVT relationships: formation volume factor Bo (reservoir bbl per stock-tank bbl), solution gas-oil ratio Rs, gas z-factor, and viscosity trends with pressure. Keep reservoir volumes and surface volumes strictly separate.
296 words, about 1 min02Drilling and Completion Engineering
Pore pressure, fracture gradient, and overburden define the safe mud-weight window. Hydrostatic pressure = 0.052 × mud weight (ppg) × TVD (ft). Distinguish measured depth from true vertical depth; all pressure calculations use TVD. Equivalent circulating density (ECD) adds annular friction pressure to the static mud weight.
269 words, about 1 min03Production and Facilities Engineering
Productivity index, inflow performance relationships (IPR), Vogel's equation for solution-gas drive, and vertical lift performance (VLP). Nodal analysis finds the operating point where inflow equals outflow. Know how skin, water cut, GOR, and tubing size shift the curves. Gas lift (valve spacing, injection gas rate), ESP (free gas handling, viscosity, pump curves), rod pump (pump fillage, gas interference), and plunger lift.
252 words, about 1 min