The University of Aberdeen is teaming up with key players from the UK oil and gas industry to offer a new Masters degree in Petroleum Data Management.
The degree will address a growing skills demand from the sector for professional petroleum data managers, possessing expertise recognised in the Wood Review as critical to maximising economic recovery of significant remaining resources from the UK Continental Shelf.
The MSc programme has been set up through an agreement between the University and Common Data Access Ltd (CDA), a not-for-profit subsidiary of Oil & Gas UK which provides data management services to the UK oil and gas industry. It will be sponsored by leading multinationals including Shell, Total and Chevron.
Currently under development, the MSc will be delivered on a multi-disciplinary basis across the departments of Geography, Geology, Computing Science and Law. Among the subjects that will be covered include data governance, data quality management, information security management, and service and project management.
The programme will launch next year on a part-time basis, with distance learning and full-time options to follow in 2018.
Programme coordinator Professor Judith Masthoff said: “Data management is vitally important to the oil and gas sector and the demand for skills in this area has led to the creation of this Masters programme, set up through an agreement with CDA and our sponsors.
“The course content is being developed with input from our industrial partners to ensure the programme is tailored to the needs of industry. This will provide graduates with job-ready expertise that will allow them to meet a growing demand for skills in this area.”
Danny Bush, Unit Manager Subsurface Workflows, Chevron Energy Technology Company, said: "Good data management is key to unlocking the real value of technical and analytical applications. As an industry we are experiencing a tremendous growth in data and to manage it successfully we will need a pipeline of talent with strong earth science and engineering skills. The Masters programme at Aberdeen University, as well as other strategically located programs, will enable the next generation of skilled data managers to advance their careers in the oil and gas industry,"
George Rorie, Operational Lead for Technical Data Management, Shell said: “We are delighted to support the development of the Petroleum Data Management MSc from Aberdeen University. Shell recognises technical information and data as a discipline within our company, and we play an active role in promoting the professionalisation of these skills across the industry. Courses such as this provide a strong academic foundation for the data management professionals that we need today and in the future.”
On behalf of Total E&P UK, Olivier Mairal, Senior Data Management Advisor, said: “The exponential growth of data volumes and available information has made data management, data architecture, data analysis and geomatics cornerstones in the exploration and production industry. Total has recognised geoinformation as a key discipline to support these trends and skilled and talented people are necessary to fulfil these challenging tasks.
Total fully supports the Petroleum Data Management Master programme at the University of Aberdeen that will allow the next generation of data managers to build on existing skills to develop the expertise required for future career development.”