JAMB Cut-Off Mark for Petroleum Engineering: Published Data

Petroleum Engineering carries a reputation for being highly competitive, but the published numbers we could read tell a more nuanced story. The programme is also listed under different titles, which makes casual searching unreliable. This page sets out the national floor, the figures we could trace and the cautions that go with them.

Layer one: the JAMB national minimum

Every year JAMB holds a policy meeting with university heads and other stakeholders to fix the lowest UTME score at which an institution may admit. According to Legit.ng's report of the meeting held in Abuja on 11 May 2026, the minimums for the 2026/2027 admission session are:

Nairametrics, previewing the same meeting, reported that the 2025 minimum for universities was also 150. This is a floor for the whole country and says nothing about any one course. Our guide on what JAMB score you need to get admission explains how the floor, the school's own cut-off and the final ranking fit together. Figures for the 2027/2028 session have not been announced, and JAMB publishes its decisions on jamb.gov.ng.

Layer two: each school's cut-off

Individual universities publish their own cut-offs for each programme, and these differ from school to school and from year to year. One official example is the University of Lagos, which published its UTME merit admission cut-off marks for 2025/2026 in October 2025.

UNILAG's 3 October 2025 page lists the programme as Petroleum & Gas Engineering, with a general merit figure of 70.725. The state figures run from 64.125 (Ekiti) to 67.75 (Ogun), and the Ondo column reads NIL, a term the page does not define. We read the first column as the general figure from the layout, and the page gives no scale; the values look like aggregates and not marks out of 400, so do not compare them with your UTME score.

This was the lowest merit figure of the twelve engineering, law, commerce and health programmes we compared from that page, below Chemical Engineering at 72.8 and Economics at 73.475. That tells you about UNILAG's published numbers for that session and does not mean the course is easy to enter anywhere. A lower threshold can also reflect fewer places or fewer applicants at that school.

Other reported figures

The table below collects the other figures we could find for the same programme, with the type of source. Press-only figures are reported, not confirmed by us against the university's own notice.

We found one further published figure, a press report that Federal University Otuoke lists Petroleum and Gas Engineering at 190 with no scale stated. The Katsina and Oye-Ekiti lists we read did not include the course. With so few figures, the best source for your own school is its admissions page or the department.

Reading these numbers without being misled

Three habits will save you from the most common errors.

1. Compare within one university only. A figure of 78 at one school and a figure of 190 at another are not on the same scale, so putting them side by side tells you nothing. Several of the notices we cite do not state their scale, and we have not guessed.
2. Match the programme title exactly. Schools use titles such as Economics and Development Studies or Computer Science and Informatics, and a figure for one title does not carry over to a neighbouring programme.
3. Note the year and the status. Everything here is for the 2025/2026 session. Cut-offs for the next session are set afresh, and a figure reported by a news outlet can differ from the school's final notice.

Layer three: the ranking on the day

A published cut-off is a threshold, not a guarantee. After the cut-off, many universities screen candidates with a post-UTME and combine the results into an aggregate. The formula differs by school, so use your target school's own notice. Our post-UTME aggregate calculator guide shows how to work one out. If more qualified candidates apply than there are places, meeting the cut-off exactly may not be enough, and nobody can honestly give you a national safe score for a course.

What the numbers mean for your plan

1. Treat 150 as the entry ticket, not the target. It lets a university consider you; it does not make you competitive for most courses.
2. Check three or four schools you actually want, on their own websites, for the latest session, and write down their scale.
3. Prepare for the screening as well. Where a post-UTME is held, it can move your final position, so do not wait for the UTME result to start.
4. Keep a backup. If your first choice is out of reach, a related course may be possible; read about changing your course, and remember that the subjects you wrote must fit the new course.

Cut-offs for the 2027/2028 session have not been announced. Do not rely on any website that claims to know the 2027 figure.

Make sure you have the right subjects

A press list and the Federal University of Petroleum Resources both give English, Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry. See JAMB subject combination for Petroleum Engineering.

No guarantees

We cannot promise that any score will win a place. What you control is your preparation: cover the syllabus, practise under time pressure, and work on the topics that cost you marks.

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