This article presents a study of 27 programs that award petroleum engineering degrees in 13 countries. It shows that in almost all cases their diplomas are at least equivalent to the Bachelor of Science (BS) degree. Thus, the only meaningful question to resolve is whether longer than 4-year programs are equivalent to the Master of Science (MS) degree. While many of these programs may compare favorably with the MS degree in terms of total semester credit hours, they may not compare with its presumed depth and intellectual maturity. Individual program studies are warranted to resolve the issue.