Master’s Thesis

A thesis is an integral part of a Master Study Program. It is the documentation of a student’s “mastery” by practical or theoretical research results in the field of his/her elective course.

DGE defines “mastery” as the ability to successfully apply the concepts, methods, and skills taught in the different modules of its International Study Program in Petroleum Engineering, in order to solve a well-posed problem of relevance to industry and/or academia.

Master's Thesis and Presentation Procedure

• According to your major, get in touch with the contact person from the respective Chair: 
  • Drilling and Completion Engineering
  • Petroleum and Geothermal Energy Recovery
  • Reservoir Engineering
• Select a topic related to your major. It is not mandatory but strongly recommended to choose a topic focused on your major.
• A supervisor from the scientific staff, involved in the respective field of study, will be assigned to you. He or she will advise and guide you on your selected topic.
• Write the thesis proposal and submit it for approval to your supervisor.
• There are four dates available per year to defend the MSc thesis (usually during October, December, March, and June). You can consult the specific dates on MSc PE Calendar or ask Ms. Elisabeth Koch, Ms. Bettina Matzer or Ms. Marlies Helbl.
• The standard time frame for the Master’s thesis is at least six months. Usually, a 60-80 pages long thesis - without appendices and supplemental material- is expected.
• The thesis presentation will take place at least 1 week before the Master’s examination date at the respective Chair.
• The presentation will take 20 minutes, and 40 minutes are for questions from the professors. You can introduce yourself for 2-3 minutes. Based on your performance, the respective professor will give the final grade.

Very important to consider in the final version of your Master's Thesis: 

• Title Page and Affidavit: Use ONLY the files that you download from MUonline.
• The Affidavit downloaded from MUonline has to be included in the bound hardcover thesis after the Title Page.
• Upload your Master Thesis in PDF/A as a text document on MUonline.
• The thesis has to be confirmed and the plagiarism check has to be completed at least ONE WEEK before the exam date. 
• You have to deliver the bound hardcover thesis at least ONE WEEK before the exam date. One copy to the Chair and one copy to the Registrar's' office.

Master's Examination

The Master’s examination will take place one week after your Master's Thesis Presentation and will be structured as follows: 

• Short presentation (max. 3 slides) of your MSc thesis. You can introduce yourself for 5 minutes. 
• Oral examination (35 minutes) in the selected elective group of your studies.
• Oral examination (20 minutes) in a second topic, which you can select from the other two areas.

Requirements to select a date for the MSc Thesis Presentation and Examination

To be able to select a date, you must fulfill the following requirements:

• Have all courses (lectures, labs, etc.) from the MSc program completed.
• The thesis must be finished at least one month before the exam date registration.
• Have the Thesis registered on MUOnline at the Theses menu point. The abstract must be uploaded in English and German. Keywords, supervisors, co-supervisors must be appropriately listed.
• Utilize DPE’s official templates in both thesis and presentation. They are available at Downloads.
• The abstract is required in both English and German because submission and acceptance on MUOnline can only be done if the abstract in German has been uploaded.
• Once your supervisor approved your MSc Thesis, two copies of it are required to be printed and bound. One copy should be submitted to the chair where you completed your work, and the second one to the Registrar's' office at least 1 week before the exam date.
• The plagiarism check has to be completed at least 1 week before the exam date.

For detailed information, consult the PDF Guidelines at Downloads.

Available topics

• MSc Thesis on “Mineral dissolution by CO2 injection: a pore-scale experimental/numerical study” - Chair of Reservoir Engineering
• MSc Thesis on Geological Hydrogen Storage / Bio-methanation - Chair of Reservoir Engineering
• Topics at the Chair of Petroleum and Geothermal Energy Recovery
• “Numerical modeling of wormhole” - Chair of Petroleum and Geothermal Energy Recovery

Contact person

Dipl.-Ing. Asad Elmgerbi
Ass.Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Dr.mont. Michael Prohaska-Marchried
Drilling and Completion Engineering

Univ.-Prof. PhD Keita Yoshioka
Petroleum and Geothermal Energy Recovery

Univ.-Prof. Dipl.-Phys. Dr.rer.nat. Holger Ott
Reservoir Engineering

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