The Department of Petroleum Engineering and Applied Geophysics (IPT) was established in 1973, shortly after the start of production (Ekofisk field) from the Norwegian continental shelf.
The stated primary purpose of maintaining the informal groups is to take care of the teaching in their respective disciplines.
Key research areas are drilling, reservoir management, production optimization, operation and maintenance.
The department states that it intends to be strongly focused on the international profile with a friendly multi-cultural atmosphere.
The funding comes from Norwegian agencies SIU (NORAD, QUOTA), EnPe (NORAD, QUOTA), The Research Council of Norway, oil companies Statoil, Total, BP, and NTNU Scholarships; also from European Programs (Erasmus, Marie Curie, TIME, Socrates) and others.