There is a severe shortage of qualified specialists in the oil and gas sector, with skilled professionals enjoying rising saleries in this sector. It is a global issues for the petroleum industry with 120,000 jobs needing to be filled over the next decade for the North Sea alone. Brunel's programme trains specialist engineers in oilfield strutural design, fabrication and installation. It is aimed both at engineering and physical science graduates who are interested in working in the oil and gas industry and practising professionals who wish to specialise in the design, analysis and construction of oil and gas installations. The high quality facilities available to studensts at the University has also been enhanced by a significant donation in 2015 of specialised software for use on our Oil and Gas MSc programme, comprising 10 sets of IPM suites.

Starting salaries for fresh engineering graduates joining the oil and gas companies in the UK has risen to an average of £34,000, in 2011, well above other industry sectors. The December 2012 issue of PE (Professional Engineer), the IMechE member's magazine, also published an article on skill shortages in the oil and gas sector, citing BP as an example of the effort the industry is taking to address the problem. Brunel graduates will typically find well paid roles within all three sectors of the industry: operators, service and supply firms, and consulting companies throughout the whole industrial supply chain. In particular the UK is one of the strongest in oilfield services provision being a core component of the UK manufacturing and service base. As a result, the programme will specifically target the following two sectors, related mainly to surface services: Engineering, fabrication and installation (£11.2 billion annually in UK). Operations (£8.5 billion annually in UK). Surface services are delivered by a large number of industrial organisations as well as oil and gas producers, in contrast to subsurface dominated by very few global providers. Industry have expressed strong interest in the programme with several leading companies already offering to help with teaching, placement as well as supervision of dissertation projects. Careers Oilfield services companies, engineering consulting or upstream oil and gas producers and downstream refineries.