10 exam-style questions with answers and explanations, straight from our 1,030-question bank. Tap an answer to check yourself. When you're ready, take the scored version in the free practice test.
The PE-P exam has 85 questions and runs 8 hours 30 minutes.
These 10 free PE-P questions are organized by exam domain, so you can see how each part of the Principles and Practice of Engineering - Petroleum blueprint is tested. Reveal the answer and explanation under each question.
During drilling on a land rig, return flow increases without a change in pump rate. The driller stops the pumps for a flow check, but the well continues flowing steadily and the active pit volume continues to rise. No surface fluid transfers are taking place. What takes priority now?
Correct answer: D - Shut in promptly using the approved well-control procedure.
The drillstring becomes immobile after standing still across a depleted, permeable sandstone. Mud pressure substantially exceeds formation pressure. The string will neither rotate nor move vertically, yet circulation continues with full returns at the previous pressure. There was no progressive drag immediately before the stop. Which sticking mechanism fits this combination?
Correct answer: B - Differential-pressure sticking against the filter cake
After drilling fresh formation below a cemented casing shoe, the crew increases test pressure in steps. Pressure remains proportional to pumped volume up to the specified test target. Pumping stops at that target, pressure holds, and no leakoff is observed. The engineering record supports the following conclusion:
Correct answer: A - Integrity was verified to the target; fracture-initiation pressure was not established.
Following a brine workover, a carbonate oil well produces substantially less oil at the same drawdown. Single-phase buildup tests show that skin increased from +1 to +11, while permeability-thickness and reservoir pressure are unchanged. A tubing pressure survey finds no new restriction. Laboratory testing identifies acid-soluble calcium-carbonate solids in the damaged zone and confirms treatment compatibility. Which intervention most directly targets the new impairment?
Correct answer: B - Matrix acidizing below the formation's fracture-initiation pressure
A sucker-rod pump's downhole dynamometer card shows incomplete filling and an abrupt loss of fluid load partway through the downstroke. The producing fluid level is near the pump intake. Valve tests show no leakage, gas interference is negligible, and rod loads remain within their limits. What is the appropriate first response to this operating condition?
Correct answer: D - Reduce pumping speed to bring displacement into line with liquid inflow.
Gas leaving an amine unit meets its hydrogen-sulfide and carbon-dioxide limits. It will now feed a cryogenic natural-gas-liquids recovery unit that requires less than 0.1 ppmv water. The existing glycol unit is not qualified to meet that moisture specification. Which addition belongs upstream of the cryogenic equipment?
Correct answer: C - Regenerable molecular-sieve dehydration beds
At design flow, a condensate transfer pump draws from a large vessel whose liquid surface is 2.0 m above the pump centerline. Vessel pressure is 150 kPa absolute, liquid vapor pressure is 100 kPa absolute, liquid density is 800 kg/m3, and suction-line head loss is 1.0 m of pumped liquid. Surface velocity is negligible. The supplier gives NPSH3 = 4.0 m at this duty; the project requires available NPSH at least 1.5 m above NPSH3. Use g = 9.81 m/s2. Which evaluation should be recorded?
Correct answer: B - Available NPSH is about 7.4 m; the suction design satisfies the specified margin.
An oil-bearing, clean, water-wet sandstone has effective porosity of 0.20. Corrected deep resistivity representing the uninvaded formation is 20 ohm-m; flushed-zone resistivity is 4 ohm-m. Formation-water resistivity is 0.12 ohm-m at the surface and 0.08 ohm-m at reservoir temperature. Core-derived Archie parameters are a = 1, m = 2, and n = 2. The water saturation to use in the uninvaded-zone oil-in-place estimate is closest to:
Correct answer: A - 32%
A constant-rate drawdown test in a hydraulically fractured oil well gives three successive log-log pressure-derivative signatures: an early unit-slope segment where pressure change and derivative coincide, an intermediate one-half-slope segment, and a sustained horizontal plateau. The fluid remains single phase, and no boundary response is evident. For a radial-flow semilog estimate of formation permeability, use:
Correct answer: C - The plateau interval, after the storage and linear-flow periods have ended.
The monthly report for a gas-processing expansion shows a schedule performance index, earned value divided by planned value, of 1.12. Nevertheless, an unfinished compressor-control test is on the critical path, has no remaining float, and is forecast to delay first gas. The project manager argues that the favorable index removes the need for schedule recovery. How should that claim be assessed?
Correct answer: A - An aggregate index above 1 can mask a critical-path delay that still requires recovery.
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