Hi Allan,

My husband and I found your program online. He has about 2 years of experience working as a Petroleum Landman. He graduated from Texas A&M University with a degree in Finance in 2008. Do you think your program would be an appropriate next step for him?

I have been working in the same industry for about 6 months, so I'm fairly certain that I don't have the experience required.

Thanks,
Courtney Meinen

Dear Courtney,

In order for me to answer this question fully I need you to send me a full CV for your husband, a synopsis of how his career is progressing as a landman and some specific detail about where he sees his career progressing over the next five years and beyond.

I am asking for this as these are some fundamental questions that will help me offer you some guidance. Being a landman is a specific and challenging career in itself.

You can send this information to me at [email protected]

Regards,

Allan Scott
MBA Director
Robert Gordon University
http://www.rgu.ac.uk/mba

Do you give any kind of preference to European & American students in the admission process (since they are native English speakers). I have found that the number of Asians attending the program is quite low. I am from India. Is there any reluctance on account of the language barrier. Please reply...........

Warm regards,
FAISAL

Dear Faisal,

There is no preference given to students from any country. There are students from over 70 countries on the programme. However oil managers working out of Aberdeen around the world know of Robert Gordon University and this has an influence on our recruitment on the executive part-time and distance learning versions of the programme. The full-time class is fully international with at least 5 students from India in the a class of 40.

Regards,
Allan Scott
MBA Director
Robert Gordon University

Sir,

I am going to finish my degree in mechatronics engineering (specialization in Robotics) this September. I have done my internship at reputed petroleum company in India for 6-7 months.

Now I want to go my MBA in oil and gas. Could you please guide me which is the best university to go to for the MBA (can be anywhere in this world)??

Plus, I wanted to know for Aberdeen University are there any particular requirements for experience level and CGPA.....

And could you also advice me on, is it better to work for 3-4 years before doing MBA or should I go directly after my B.Eng........I worry because once I start working I would go into semi-conductor industry....from there it would be very difficult to jump to Oil and Gas MBA.......Currently there are very few oil and gas companies hiring Mechatronics Engineers.......they prefer core fields as Chemical, Electrical, Mechanical and Instrumentation.....My field is specialised towards control!!

Please Advice....Except for 2 colleges in India, Middlesex University and RGU I have not found any other good Universities..........And in these only RGU has good reputation and placement!!

I really need your advice!!I want to take a decision!!

Thanks for reading and helping!!

Dear Silveroblado,

There are now a few courses for Oil and Gas in the UK. Here is a list:
MBA Oil and Gas Management (RGU)
MBA Energy (Warwick)
MBA Oil and Gas Management (Dundee University)
MBA Oil and Gas (MIddlesex)
MBA Oil and Gas (Coventry)
MBA Oil and Gas (Liverpool)

The last three do not have substantial Oil and Gas content.

RGU and Warwick will require you to have work experience at a professional level as they are both AMBA accredited. Dundee University is focused on a particular aspect of Oil and Gas.

As you are an engineer you probably wish to get involved with upstream E&P activity. If this is the case then RGU would be your only real option. Furthermore Aberdeen is the European Hub for such activity.

There are alternatives to this. Aberdeen University have a MSc in Energy Enterprise which is a conversion course into the Oil industry. RGU now have a MSc Energy Management which is dedicated to upstream Oil and Gas.

Given I developed this course here is the curriculum:

Semester 1
BSM2519 Oil and Gas Management
BSM671 Energy Finance
BSM023 Managing People
BSM179 Oil and Gas Economics

Semester 2
BSM672 Strategic Analysis for the Energy Sector
BSM659 Oil and Gas Operations Management

Pick three electives from:
BSM117 Energy Policy and the Environment
BSM578 Oil and Gas Contract Law
BSM084 Project Fundamentals
BSM622 Health, Safety and Risk in an Organisational Context
BSM116 Leadership, Communication and Change
BSM523 Supply Chain Management

Semester 3
BSM673 Energy Project
BSM669 Risk Management and Business Continuity

I suggest that if you wish to get straight into the industry then perhaps a masters in Oil and Gas Engineering would also serve you well.

In Scotland you should consider RGU (Aberdeen), Aberdeen University and Heriott-Watt University (Edinburgh)

This is not a comprehensive list and I apologise if I have missed any degree courses in the UK.

I hope this helps.

Allan Scott
MBA Director
http://www.rgu.ac.uk/mba

Thanks a lot Sir. This is enough for me to get started to make a plan. I'll be at RGU in 5 years from now.

There's also some Alumni feedback from Energy MBA graduates about their schools and their careers in the sector:

http://www.find-mba.com/article/523/after-the-mba-alumni-careers-in-the-energy-sector

Hi Allan,

I thank you for painstakingly replying each and every post addressed to you in this blog, that too for a period of 5 years (I guess the first post appeared in 2006). Going through all the posts & the week-long research I did on the subject by visiting various sites, I believe, I have got significant insight about the MBA in O & G course and what ABS offers. ABS seems the best to me in terms of course content, its strategic location in the hub of world's oil & gas, AMBA accreditation, as long as O & G is concerned. I am eagerly looking forward to join this course. Wish to see you soon at Aberdeen, Allan.

Regards,
Rajeeb

Hello Alan,
I'm a drilling engineer and has been working in this field for 4 years now. I plan to study MBA in oil and gas management next year. I saw two good courses which I don't see the different which is in RGU and in Dundee. Can you help explain how they are different? It will be really big help for me.

Dear Rungie,

I will do my best to demonstrate the difference.

Here is the RGU course:

Underpinning operations modules:
Energy Marketing (primarily B2B marketing within Oil and Gas)
Strategic Operations Management Oil and Gas
Oil and Gas Management

Underpinning finance and economics modules:
OIl and Gas Economics
Financial and Management Accounting
Corporate Finance

Strategy and Change Modules
People Management & Organisational Development
Strategic Management Environment (a strategic analysis of the Oil and Gas industry and others)
Strategic Management (the 2nd part of strategy looking at how to think about strategy, select and deploying strategy in approprate context supported with industry expertise)
Leadership, Communication and Change

Oil and Gas elective choices that allow for tailoring of your career:
Project Fundamentals
Energy Policy and the Environment
Oil and Gas Contract Law
Health, Safety and Risk in an Organisational Context

Consultancy Project Module within a Company. We find you a company on the full-time study mode through our extensive network and contacts here in Aberdeen.

If you undertake the Distance Learning version you have two additional electives taught by Curtin University
Oil and Gas Markets
Natural Resource Economics (very specific to Australian Market and around).

The entire programme is focused on upstream activities within the Oil and Gas industry. We also have considerable additionality with guest speakers, employability events and workshops and industry engagement and a three week induction. The big question is how to you make management decisions in upstream environment, turn this into strategy and make the strategy a reality.

The Dundee University programme, which is a good programme, is more focused on downstream activity, natural resources (i.e. minerals), law and policy and wider energy mix. Here is their curriculum:

Induction Programme

Finance and Economics modules:
Foundation Financial Accounting
Introduction to Finance
Petroleum Policy and Economics

Law and policy modules pick two:
Downstream Energy Law and Policy
International Petroleum Law and Policy
Mineral and Petroleum Taxation

Management and strategy modules:
Management in Energy and Natural Resources Industries
Strategic Management & Organisational Analysis

Elective choices pick three:
Business Strategy in the Extractive Industries
Environmental Law and Policy for Natural Resources and Energy
Financial and Project Analysis of Natural Resources and Energy Ventures
Human Resources Management
International Law of Natural Resources and Energy
Leadership and Decision Making
Marketing
Project Management Process
Stakeholder Management and Business Ethics
Transnational Investment Law and Policy

You can do a 20 credit or 40 credit internship instead of 1 or 2 of these electives above. You need to find your own internship for the 20 credit version. It is unclear from the website if you need to do this for the 40 credit version.

If you are working in the upstream activity as you are and you intend to manage in this area then the RGU degree is probably more suited for you. If you are moving into a broader energy environment with a slant toward policy and law then Dundee would suit you.

It took me a little time to put this together but I hope it is worthwhile for you. I have tried to be balanced as I can but I am inevitably biased toward my own programme and I can only apologise for this.

Regards,

Allan Scott

MBA Director
www.rgu.ac.uk/mba

Hello Allan,
I can see this particular thread has lots of valuable info specially posted by you. Allan, I am sailing on Oil tanker ships as chief officer ( Management level ) , have transported various grades across the globe e.g. crude oil, fuel oil etc. Have 2.5 years experience of transportation and maintenance of these fuels, also done blending process onboard ships. Graduated in Nautical Science. GPA 3.4+
Kindly advise how beneficial O & G MBA would be for my career enhancement? GMAT Score : 560
Thnx

Dear Oceanicrajat,

Please send me an email and I will put you in touch with a couple of students with a profile not dissimilar to yours who are taking the programme - one student is on the full-time programme and the other on the distance learning programme. It is probably better to hear why they are undertaking this degree rather than me extoling the virtues of the degree based on the limited information I know about you.

My email is [email protected]

Regards,

Allan Scott
MBA Director

hI So, i have an L.L.B and thinking of going for a masters program. I have been looking through your website and I see MBA in energy commodities. would that still give me an oppurtunity to work in a law firm, whose practice is soley in oil, gas, enviroment and power? Also do you think with a 3rd class from my L.L.B i qualify for the program? How much weight is given to the online program from your school?

Hi Toyosi. Energy law has been a growing for several years however, from what I have read, it seems that an LLM would be the more normal preparation for a someone wanting to work in a law firm, and much more appropriate than an MBA. In an MBA you would spend most of your time studying general management, and only a small part of the studies would be on energy. Looking at this article in The Times (http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/management/masterclass/article3582752.ece) it seems there are some British universities that cover that, including Dundee, Swansea and UCL. Dundee is I think the best known for energy law (http://www.llm-guide.com/university/77/centre-for-energy-petroleum-mineral-law-policy-cepmlp-university-of-dundee). You will need to approach those schools directly to find out more.

A third class degree is a problem. Unless you have an additional qualification (the LSE's distance learning diplomas for graduates are popular for 'topping up' a weak degree http://www2.lse.ac.uk/study/UOLIP/programmes.aspx#generated-subheading3) and two or three years' work experience then entry into any of the leading programmes will be challenging for you. Again, you would need to read through the websites of the schools that interested you to find out more.

HI
There is a confusion about which would be a better choice.. either MBA in oil and gas management at coventry university London campus which has some nice rankings but not accredited... or the MBA in initernational oil and gas management at the university of dundee (CEPMLP) which has been accredited by AMBA. Thats because its October already and am trying for an january2012 intake. and also my tuition fee should be made available by bank loans. since i dont have time.. i have already got a conditional offer letter of admission asking me to pay the first installment of the tuition fee at the coventry university where as there is no response still from the Univ of Dundee. i would like some guidance here.

What are the nice rankings for the Coventry MBA in London? Seriously, an MBA from a respected university will always be worth more - and have much higher quality students.

Why not telephone Dundee?

Also, these are not the only MBAs in the world. Most MBAs in the energy industry do not have specialist MBAs. They are not essential. A generalist MBA that is accredited will almost always be taken more seriously than any specialist programme.

and what are the scope of placements at university of Dundee (CEPMLP) - MBA international oil and gas management for international students. where can i find the best placement details regarding the UK universities?

Dear Kousik T,

You can find a list of AMBA accredited MBAs at AMBA's website www.mbaworld.com

Dundee University is not accredited by AMBA.

As I said in a previous posting Dundee University offer a placement module as an elective. If you are referring to job placements then all Universities need to provide this information to the Higher Education Statistical Agency for UK students (they are not obliged to provide information for International students so this information will be skewed given many full-time MBA courses only have International students in them).

I think you are asking the right question though of an MBA. Accreditated or not, general or specific does the MBA deliver jobs in the industry you are after for candidates that meet the MBA entry requirements and perform well. You should get quantitative data not qualitative examples.

Regards,

Allan Scott

I have 2 questions,

1. I have a work experience of 2 years in thermal power plant operation and maintenance, but in the technical side. Would it be advisable to go in for a MBA it a Msc degree at UK now? (both in energy concentration)

2. is it possible to number the following, staying at 1 with most appropriate and worthy and continuing..
MBA international oil and gas management, university of Dundee (Cepmlp)
MBA oil and gas management, coventry university London camps
Msc energy and environmental management, Glasgow Caledonian university
Msc energy and environmental management, university of central Lancashire
Msc energy and environmental management, university of abertay Dundee.

PS: I want to pursue a management position in a power or energy sector. May be a corporation. Most preferably in the oil and gas.