The School of Petroleum Engineering was first established at the UNSW in 1985. Initially funded by the Australian Government and the domestic petroleum industry, the School of Petroleum Engineering was created in order to meet the growing need for Petroleum Engineering graduates in Australia.

The petroleum industry is one of Australia’s largest and most important resource industries - with new oil and gas findings on the North-West Shelf and in the Timor Sea, the need for research and people with research experience is expected to grow.