Petroleum engineering students at the University of North Dakota will have real hands-on experience working on an oil derrick.
The University’s Petroleum Engineering Department has received a $40 million full-scale oil drilling simulator and lab, courtesy of Sidney Green, entrepreneur, founder and president of Enhanced Production Inc. based in Salt Lake City.
The donated rig with a 26-foot-tall derrick will be housed in the former Minnkota Power Plant building in Grand Forks. It will join 10 other hands-on drilling labs at UND.
The rig “has been used by industries worldwide for research,” said Vamegh Rasouli, petroleum engineering professor and department chairman.
Petroleum engineering students will be able to simulate general drilling and deep drilling, test different rocks including shale, and simulate oil reservoir conditions, including temperature, pressure and fluid flow. The simulator also will be available to industry and other universities, and it will allow UND to apply for external research funding.
Click here to read more at Bismarck Tribune.