It is a domain-specific Institute at par with IITs and IIMs, established by the Government of India under the aegis of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG).[5]
The Institute is presently operating its academic activities from its temporary campus in Andhra University which is located in the heart of the city at Visakhapatnam. The Institute has its own state-of-the-art laboratories, research infrastructure, e-library. etc. It has been allotted 201.8 acres (81.7 ha) of land[6] in Vangali Village, of Sabbavaram mandal in Anakapalli district, near Visakhapatnam.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi virtually laid stone for the greenfield permanent campus of the Indian Institute of Petroleum & Energy (IIPE) in Visakhapatnam on March 2, 2024.[7]
Construction is expected to be completed in July 2025 and classes are likely to commence at the new campus from July - August 2025.
Academics
The Institute presently offers 4-year B.Tech courses in Petroleum Engineering, Chemical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering based on JEE (Advanced) rankings, 2 year MSc programme in Applied Geology and Ph.D. programmes.
The curriculum of the Institute is domain specialized and in line with the needs of the industries. The faculty of the Institute are from various IITs across the country, having very high academic credentials, research base, and international exposure.
Departments
Department of Petroleum Engineering and Earth Sciences
The mission of the Department of Petroleum Engineering is to provide students with the education they need to become highly qualified engineers in the field of Petroleum Engineering. The four-year undergraduate program offers a flexible course, combining theory-based classes and practical training classes. Students can choose from a variety of electives according to their interests and are provided with access to multiple laboratories—including the reservoir simulation, drilling engineering, reservoir engineering, and production engineering laboratories—fully equipped with the latest machinery and software.
With a faculty combining industry experts, researchers, and professors from Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) all over the country, and interactive guest sessions by eminent persons from industry, the Department of Petroleum Engineering ensures that its students have the hands-on and theoretical knowledge they require to become excellent workers who can meet the growing demand in the petroleum and energy sectors, and skilled researchers who can contribute to the advancement of the sector.
Department of Chemical Engineering
Offering both undergraduate (B.Tech) and postgraduate (PhD) programs, the Department of Chemical Engineering aims to provide students with the extensive knowledge they need to be a part of the Energy Sector in the Indian Industrial space. The courses provided are a balanced mix of traditional areas—reaction engineering, thermodynamics, process control, etc.—and emerging areas—waste management, renewable energy, machine learning, nanoscience, etc.—of chemical engineering. Students are given hands-on experience with various simulation software (MATLAB, Aspen, Fluent), along with access to laboratories which have the latest equipment and machinery.
The department faculty are involved in industrial consultancy and various sponsored involved in various research projects, particularly interdisciplinary ones, in collaboration with industry. The focus areas of this research in the department include distribution networks, energy storage, surface and plasma engineering, water treatment, machine learning, and pollution abatement.
The department has an active IIChE student chapter. The department organizes webinars and tech talks to improve both the technical and behavioral skills of students.
Department of Mechanical Engineering
The key focus of the Mechanical Engineering department at IIPE is to impart theoretical and practical knowledge to students in the area of oil, gas, and energy sector. The department aims at imparting technical skills to the undergraduate students of IIPE, in the areas of conventional and non-conventional energy sources. The department offers various core mechanical and inter- disciplinary subjects to undergraduate students. The department offers B.Tech. and Ph. D program aimed at developing researchers who can innovate and succeed in globally competitive environment. The B.Tech. and Ph. D program focuses on various interdisciplinary research such as solar energy, energy conversion devices, turbomachines, grid integrated systems, data analytics and AI for energy sector.
Department of Humanities and Sciences
The department plays a pivotal role in the academic curriculum offering both core and elective courses for the UG (B.Tech.) and Doctoral (Ph.D.) programme. The department has been actively involved in setting up an advanced research facility that house various sophisticated equipment and characterization tools for carrying out cutting-edge research. The research focuses of H&S are Electrocatalyst, Alternative Energy Materials, Device & Sensor fabrication, Bioinformatics-Structural biology, Sparse Representation Theory, Numerical Analysis etc. The department provides a scientific platform to the young engineer and research students to fulfil their research endeavour. The faculty fraternity acts as students’ mentor, guide and nurture them to understand the balance between Life-Technology-Society and Humanity.
International & National Relations
National Relations
IIT Kharagpur having the role of a mentor for IIPE till 2019.[8]
Andhra University will be helping the deemed university with the infrastructure and resources till the institute sets up its own campus.[9]
MoU signed with Petroleum & Explosives Safety Organization to promote institutional linkage, joint research studies, and collaboration in training programmes in the area of Fire & Safety in Explosives & Petroleum Industries.
MoU with Stony Brook University: To promote interaction and collaboration between faculty, staff and students of the two institutions through visits and faculty exchange programmes.
MoU with Ufa State Petroleum Technological University, Russia: For exchange of scholars, teachers, students and Postgraduate students, Scientific activities and Special Projects.
MoU with Petroleum Research Institute of Norway(NFiP) of University of Bergen, Norway: For scientific and technical knowledge through joint research, Exchange of faculty, research scholars, and students conducting teaching and collaborative research.
MoU with Environmental Management & Systems Engineering Lab (EMSEL), Kyung Hee University, South Korea: For cooperation in Environmental and Energy Research.
