My Academic and Research Interests

Personal Statement

Growing up as a child, my family and everyone around me had an expectation of me becoming a medical doctor. I had that notion until few weeks to filling out my college application form, I went for an energy career session organised by some alumni of my secondary school, after which I made up my mind to study petroleum engineering. Initially, I was shaken up by the idea of pursuing a course entirely different from what I have been preparing my whole life for, and also the fact that I did not know any petroleum engineer who can advise me on the path ahead.

However, presently I know I could not have made a better decision. I found my passion in petroleum engineering; which are the challenging environment, the innovations, and the solutions to energy problems that it provides. I already possess a Bachelor degree in Petroleum Engineering with First Class Honour and I am eager to continue my petroleum engineering education at your school.

During my undergraduate program, amidst being the youngest in the department (age 15), I had a target of being the best from inception and thus I maintained a steady growing academic grades from my first year with a constant class rank of 1 out of 200 in all semesters for the five years course duration. Amidst my compulsory courses, I opted for the challenging courses in the curriculum related to fluid mechanics and renewable energy because I wanted to learn more and often perform better when challenged. I had distinctions in all petroleum engineering courses less two.

Apart from my regular class schedule, I engaged in other extracurricular activities like organising tutorial lessons for my classmates every weekend, holding revision classes few days before examination date, organising petroleum software trainings for all levels and delivering educational/behavioural lectures on various occasions. These activities helped me in developing good time management skill, presentation and communication skill, logical thinking and intellectual curiosity as I have to cover difficult areas before teaching it during my tutorial sessions. I graduated as the best in my department and the 2nd best student in my university with several awards and scholarships as highlighted in my attached resume.

Based on the advice and motivations from my professional mentors, I developed my research skill from my 3rd year in school and ever since then, have engaged in several researches focused in different fields of petroleum engineering ranging from well test analysis to reserve estimation, reservoir modelling and production optimization strategies. I worked with a team in carrying out those studies and have contributed in various categories like documentation, simulation, laboratory analyses and reviews. I have published several papers in relation to reservoir management, well test and PVT analysis. One of the works focused on improved fluid contact monitoring for reservoir management using calibrated dynamic models with log data. Other publications were related to pressure transient analysis for some complex reservoirs in Niger Delta and application of an artificial neural network algorithm in predicting PVT properties of Niger Delta fluids.

As part of the course curriculum in my school, I worked with several oil and gas companies in Nigeria as an intern. This opportunity exposed me to the practical application and understanding of the theoretical concepts learnt in school. I worked with the reservoir engineering discipline team at Shell Petroleum Development Company and as a petroleum engineer in CypherCrescent LTD shortly after school. I have also worked in several teams with job roles ranging from well completion, pressure transient analysis, well integrity, reservoir modelling, PVT characterization, nodal analysis to production optimization and operating envelopes.

The skills acquired from interactions, trainings, conferences and handling challenging tasks were applied in my undergraduate thesis focused on optimizing production from an oil rim reservoir considering various production strategies. Apart from industrial experiences, I also engaged in some voluntary activities under the platform of Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) where I occupied a leadership position as the secretary general in my student chapter. This helped me in building my professional networks and gave me opportunities to engage in humanitarian services like organising energy seminars for secondary school students, creating a technical paper workshop forum, and organising annual student/alumni interactive sessions.

Having been threading the energy path for several years and with the zeal to acquire more knowledge and help in proffering better solutions to energy problems in my country especially during this low oil price period, I chose to apply to Imperial College. I am quite fascinated with Prof. Gringarten’s works on well test analysis and Prof. Blunt’s works on flow through pore spaces, and I would love an opportunity to learn from the best minds in the energy industry based on the pool of your renowned lecturers, and state of the art laboratory facilities. By studying in the UK, I hope to explore the networking opportunities and learn from the cultural diversities thereof. These, I believe would make me a better petroleum engineer upon returning to my country.

Imperial College is reputed for its specialty in Petroleum Engineering, which ranks top 1st in the United Kingdom. The specialty has a very strong faculty and advanced research facilities. It offers research-intensive programs and many field trips. Such an academic environment agrees very well with my academic and research interests. In my future program, I will continue to build up my theoretical knowledge, consolidate my basic skills, and learn the most recent advanced technologies. I will try to focus my program on a specific subject that will most meet the needs of Nigeria’s oil and gas industry. I believe that my degree program in Imperial College will be the most fruitful one.

I look forward to being a petroleum engineering graduate student in your school. Thanks in anticipation of your favourable response.

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