Everything To Know About Petroleum Engineering

By Gabriel Abney
Period 5
Principles Of Engineering
STPHS
1/31/15

Abstract
This Engineering project was to learn more about Petroleum Engineering. Topics surrounding
the project, include what a Petroleum Engineer does, how Petroleum Engineers help the rest of
the world, and the future of Petroleum Engineering. A Petroleum Engineer works in three major
lines of petroleum; extracting oil, research, and creating new drill sites. Petroleum Engineers
help the world by fueling modern days needs for energy while compensating for putting an
equal amount of time into keeping the Earth a safe and clean environment after extracting
petroleum itself. Petroleum Engineering is advancing quickly (more explained in the Demand
portion of the project) with employees doubling in the near future and new tech that allows for
extreme accuracy in finding the right petroleum pockets and how to extract them.

Table of Contents
Introduction
Background
Mandatory Classes
Job Description
Demand
Importance
Salary vs Location & Education
Results
Conclusion
Appendix
Citations

Introduction
Petroleum Engineering is basically finding new ways to extract oil and such from the
earth while also finding ways to upgrade the older wells to compensate for efficiency. The
purpose of this project was for me as a student of basic Engineering to understand the
fundamentals of what most Engineers regularly do. I strive to learn more about the petroleum
side of engineering by taking courses like this one in college at ATM. During the career of
Petroleum Engineering, the tasks at hand consist of extracting oil, researching the oil, and
finding more drill sites for needed energy. Through this project, I wish to dive way more into the
information needed for being a well rounded engineering student who hopes to someday be a
Petroleum Engineer.
The median salary for a Petroleum Engineer is roughly $130,000 as of May, 2012. Most
Petroleum Engineers actually work in offices but sometimes have to be at drill sites which then
turn into long periods of time. The job occupancy for Petroleum Engineering is actually
supposed to increase by 26% from year 2012 to 2022! This major increase will appreciate the
fact that there will need to be tons of engineers at each drilling site due to more complex ways
of extracting oil. While it takes only 4 years for a bachelors in Petroleum Engineering, most
entry-level jobs value experience just as equally. For high schoolers studying to become a
Petroleum Engineer, they must take math and science classes such as chemistry, physics,
calculus and trigonometry. Even though its preferred to have a Petroleum Engineering degree,
having a bachelors in mechanical or chemical engineering will also work!
http://www.bls.gov/ooh/architecture-and-engineering/petroleum-engineers.htm

Background

Mandatory Classes
Classes that everyone knows and are required of a high school graduate under the
engineering academy include; Intro to Engineering, Principles of Engineering, and
lastly Digital Electronics or Civil Engineering and Architecture for the basic
curriculum inside the STEM academy. Theres a new course for seniors lately called
Engineering Design and Development which is a pre-college engineering class.
mandatory classes in college will require a rigorous amount of Mathematics, Physics,
and Chemistry along with slightly better English than most graduates. Every preengineer is going to strive to be the best of the best to eventually obtain that highest
salary (reservoir engineer). To figuring out the key to becoming a Reservoir Engineer,
there are a few extra steps every student must take. One of these extra steps include
actually speaking with or questioning real Petroleum Engineers. Another of these few
steps can include having an Internship at an establishment preferable before
graduating high school as no one will have the time in college to manage an internship
and school work. Lastly just looking online for what Petroleum Engineers do, how they
do it, and why they do it can seriously get any pre-engineer graduate ready for the
real world.
http://www.bls.gov

Job Description
Lets say this Petroleum Engineer just graduated from college. He would have
had to major in Petroleum Engineering such as; Drilling, Completions, Production, or
Reservoir Engineering. Now he has picked Reservoir Engineering as his specialization
and now needs to find an entry-level job in which a company for example Exxon will
hire. This Petroleum Engineer can now work on numerous forms of his Reservoir
Engineering career such as working in an office, on the drill site, as a researcher, or as
an innovator for older drill sites. Of the 38,500 jobs of Petroleum Engineering as of
2012, each engineer follows a median schedule of 50-60 hours per week or 84 hour
shifts on the site and 84 hours off the site. For the ones working on the Reservoirs it is
often shortly noticed that they will be working there and on top of that are usually
working on the drill site for long periods of time. This means travelling is also a large
role in the Petroleum Engineering workload. They could work onshore or offshore, dig
10,000 feet deep or 8,500 feet deep, and even work with others in the same boat but
from different countries and ethnicities.
http://www.bls.gov

Demand
"The number of incoming college freshmen into petroleum engineering surged by
55%...between the fall of 2011 and the fall of 2012. (http://www.forbes.com) knowing
that the need for new engineers is strong because high schools are now making the
engineering academy a whole new program for aspiring engineers. I expect that when
graduates are trying to find a Petroleum Engineering Entry-Level job straight out of
college it will be more challenging for them in the future than it is now because it is
predicted that there will be 5,000 more graduates between the years of 2012-2020
looking for the same Petroleum Engineering jobs. This is a tougher job to find in this
particular set of engineering. Job growth in this field has increased even more from
2010-2014 by 30% and on top of this data, 25% of Petroleum Engineers are over the
age of 55.
So how come Petroleum Engineers are getting paid so well? Is this because
they are the bread and butter of the oil and gas industry? I think not, and my three
reasons why Petroleum Engineers are paid considerably well compared to the others
include 1) lack of supply, 2) working conditions, and 3) cash sloshing (hiring the best
engineers for a higher salary). Demand is in such need right now due to the fact that
there are only a couple hundred petroleum engineering graduates each year. With the
ratio of oil in demand/workers, we cannot meet the increasing need to obtain more oil.
It is also hard to compensate for those retiring out of the field. This makes it hard for
new graduates to get into the petroleum academy because many companies require
work experience. Working conditions can include 12-18 hour days for 6 to 7 days a
week. Those are definitely long hours and a long work week. However, companies will
pay high dollar salaries for top talent which means you could change companies every
two years and expect a hefty pay increase each time.

www.bestpetroleumengineeringschools.com
http://www.forbes.com
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com

Importance
Petroleum Engineers help the world in ways that most of the public wouldnt
think of. As opposed to generally everyone thinking that a Petroleum Engineer will
harm the environment, they actually strive to improve eco-friendly fuels and ways to
extract oil efficiently, safely, and minimally damage the environment. And as
demands increase for alternative energy, some forward-thinking petroleum engineers
are turning their talents to working on clean energy products that produce fewer
harmful carbon emissions. The work of petroleum engineers keeps the world running.
They help provide the energy to cook our food, heat our homes, and fuel our cars.
However, petroleum engineers study more than just flammable material.
Manufacturers use petroleum to create more than three hundred everyday products
from medicines and cosmetics to plastics and textiles. These major reasons stated
earlier all pertain to why Petroleum Engineers are very important and basically ruling
the worlds economy.
http://www.worldwidelearn.com
http://www.bls.gov

Salary vs Location & Education

On Average, Petroleum Engineers make an annual salary of $130,280 but for
entry-level engineers the average rounds to $80,000. If someone was to obtain a
bachelors in college for Petroleum Engineering, they wouldnt be making as much as a
5-year degree which would allow them to teach and guide others to become Petroleum
Engineers. Thus, if the student were to put in an extra year, they would be a much
greater asset than the normal Petroleum Engineer. For locations that excel in Petroleum
Engineering, Texas is the best place in America to obtain that particular major. This
statement is true because of academic standings used from colleges such as ATM and
UT. Now that the concept is established of where and what Petroleum Engineers salary
is, we can discuss where the top three states are for Drilling Engineers. Oklahoma has
the highest average Petroleum Engineer salary of $160,100. Alaska is exactly the same
with a thousand dollars less, and Virginias annual pay is $154,200. Each state varies
with an oil production:salary ratio. For example, last month North Dakota had the
highest salary.
http://www1.salary.com
http://www.toppetroleumengineeringschools.com

Results
The objectives accomplished throughout this project were the specific details that
most people didnt know about Petroleum Engineers. Details such as Petroleum
Engineering applicants doubling over the next decade and the fact that Petroleum
Engineers are aware of the dangers in extracting more oil and how scarce it is actually
not becoming. Areas of improvement arent major, but there were definitely times in this
project where finding the correct information was a hassle. Trying to get in touch with an
amateur Petroleum Engineer as well as an experienced one to get an insight of their
day-to-day lives takes a decent amount of their time just so that I can learn more about
this career is definitely a kind thing that theyre doing.
This project could certainly help anyone who is willing to learn what a Petroleum
Engineer does and will do in their entire career. When Petroleum companies are looking
for a certified job applicant, they will know that with this project I was able to fully know
what is needed to be a capable employee due to the time and effort put into learning
and creating a database of a well rounded Petroleum Engineer. Whilst accumulating all
this data, anyone can look at this project and predict a very detail-oriented worker who
knows exactly what he is doing and what he can strive to achieve such as myself.
My results and data collected over the past several months and conclusively the
whole school year prove that my problem of simply not knowing what a Petroleum
Engineer does in full detail has now been achieved and can now be used for possible
companies to look at when submitting a resume. This information shows that I am fully
aware of what to expect in my career as a Petroleum Engineer.

Conclusion
Throughout all the information gathered from various sources of Petroleum Engineering,
I have established many general aspects of the career. Qualities of most Petroleum
Engineers include; different kinds of jobs within Petroleum Engineering such as Drilling,
Research, and Extracting teams which each have a sub-category for and all for just one
oil rig minimum. The fact that having a bachelors degree in Chemistry or Petroleum
Engineering is extremely satisfying because of how generalized one career can turn into
which helps with jobs, intelligence, and stabilization for each side of the project. Overall
Petroleum Engineering is a major source of energy throughout the world and it is our job
as students of this career to make sure that this does not get out of hand in the future
with things like oil spills and large petroleum prices which could buff the economy or
degrade it.

Appendix

Citations
-http://www.bls.gov/ooh/architecture-and-engineering/petroleum-

engineers.htm
-http://www1.salary.com/Drilling-Engineer-I-Salary.html
-http://www.toppetroleumengineeringschools.com/petroleum-engineering-salary/
-www.bestpetroleumengineeringschools.com

-http://www.forbes.com/sites/emsi/2014/09/12/the-most-in-demand-and-oldestengineering-jobs/
-http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/engineering-majors/1310446-why-do-petroleumengineers-make-so-much-money.html

-http://www.worldwidelearn.com/online-education-guide/engineering/petroleumengineering-major.htm