Hello Joe Fernandez

B E means Bachelor of Engineering and B.Tech means Bachelor of Technology. When engineering courses started in India in 1960s, most of the courses were BE and later when Technology start to grow in the field of Electrical, Mechanical, Chemical, Civil etc, courses were upgraded as B.Tech and M.Tech.

But there are some universities in India still give B E degrees, but there is not much difference in course contents as such between B E and B.Tech. In India both BE and B.Tech are accepted in industries and academics.

Generally speaking you can join either of the course, as such there is no difference in course contents as of today. But it also depends on the University or institute you may choose to join. I would advice you choose a reputed Government University or Institute for you engineering course, which provide B.Tech degrees.

Regarding Petroleum engineering, I think its an interesting course, however you should be very careful when you choose such courses. Today, there are lots of research going on in renewable energy sector to reduce our dependency on petroleum products. I would suggest you to do a thorough research on course contents before you take a decision. You may have to look into their research programs and academic programs to decide on whether to join this course or not.