GATE PE previous year question papers
Petroleum Engineering · 2016–2026
Free year-wise GATE PE question papers with official answer keys. Solve them under a 3-hour timer to simulate the real exam, then review every wrong answer against the GATE PE syllabus.
Free PDF downloads
We link to established, free sources rather than re-hosting copies. Papers open in a new tab; always cross-check against the official GATE organising institute's site for the current cycle.
How to use these papers
- Finish a subject first, then solve that subject's questions across all years.
- Once the syllabus is covered, switch to full papers under a strict 3-hour timer.
- Log every mistake by cause: concept gap, silly error, or time pressure.
- Re-solve the papers you scored worst on after two weeks.
Frequently asked questions
How many years of official GATE PE papers are actually available to practise from?
GATE Petroleum Engineering was introduced in 2016, so it has a full decade of official papers by now: a shorter run than Mechanical or Civil, but enough to see how reservoir and drilling numericals repeat across cycles, unlike some of the truly recent GATE papers that only date back to 2022.
Which single section is worth building depth in first?
Reservoir Engineering. It is consistently the largest core-discipline section: covering petrophysical properties, phase behaviour, flow through porous media and reserve estimation: and its concepts (material balance, coning, drive mechanisms) resurface inside Well Testing and Enhanced Oil Recovery questions as well, so time spent there compounds across the paper.
Is prior exposure to fieldwork or a petroleum engineering degree necessary to attempt GATE PE?
No. Most candidates come from a formal petroleum or petrochemical engineering program, but the syllabus itself is self-contained: drilling, reservoir and production topics are taught from first principles in the standard textbooks, and the exam tests conceptual and numerical understanding rather than rig-floor experience.
Do the offshore and HSE sections deserve serious preparation time, given their smaller share of marks?
They are worth a pass, but not a deep one. Offshore Drilling and Production Practices and Health, Safety and Environment together typically account for under 10 marks, well behind Reservoir Engineering, Drilling Technology and Production Operations: read them once for the definitions and standard terminology, then redirect most study hours to the three core-discipline sections that actually decide the score.