Petroleum Engineering

Chris Hagist
Overall Job
 Petroleum engineers develop and apply new technology to
recover oil and gas from oil shale, tar sands, and offshore
oil and gas fields in the most profitable and safe way. They
must also devise new techniques to recover oil left in the
ground after application of conventional producing
techniques.
Specific Types/Roles
 Drilling Engineer: Determine the best way to drill
an oil or gas well and ensure that the drilling process
is safe, efficient, and minimally disruptive to the
environment.
 Reservoir Engineer: study a reservoir’s
characteristics and determine which methods will get
the most oil or gas out of the reservoir.
 Completion Engineer: They oversee well-
completions work, which might involve the use of
tubing, hydraulic fracturing, or pressure-control
techniques.
 Production Engineer: Takes over after well
completed and monitor production in order to ensure
optimal levels of the resources are being recovered.
Education
 Petroleum engineers must have a bachelor’s
degree in engineering, preferably in
petroleum engineering. However, a bachelor’s
degree in mechanical or chemical engineering
can work.
 After graduating and having at least 4 years
of working experience, many petroleum
engineers take the steps to become licensed
professional engineers to increase
employment opportunities.
Work Schedule
 Petroleum engineers typically work normal
schedules.
 However, some work as many as 50 or 60
hours per week when traveling, helping
operation, and responding to problems.
 When they are at a drilling site, it is
common for these engineers to work in a
rotation: on duty for 84 hours and then
off duty for 84 hours.
Pay
The Society of Petroleum Engineers reports that the median base pay
among its members in 2012 varied by type of petroleum engineer:

Engineers — Drilling $212,123

Engineers — Completions $197,739
Engineers — Production $194,481
Engineers — Reservoir $187,780
Video

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QP2G
ejkLdwA