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 Engineers — Drilling$212,123 Engineers — Completions$197,739 Engineers — Production$194,481 Engineers — Reservoir$187,780 The Society of Petroleum Engineers reports that the median base pay among its members in 2012 varied by type of petroleum engineer:

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