petroleum engineering

[chorb]

Anyone ever been in the petroleum engineering field?

Have any insight as to what its really like as a field engineer (drilling, testing, etc...)? It seems like an exciting job type that could end up traveling all over the world to work. Or am I just glorifying it in my head; as I am tired of sitting at a desk all day, I would rather be outside in some sort of engineering capacity.

 

[FoBoT]

i believe 'rgwalt' is a chemical engineer, not sure what niche he works in , but he may be able to provide some input

 

[makken]

petroleum / chemical / process engineers generally work downstream (ie. in the refineries mainly doing seperations)

If you're looking at upstream work (exploring, drilling, transporting crude oil), It's mostly done by geologist I believe.

 

[Analog]

I was a petroleum transfer engineer while in high school. Of course, that was way back when a lot of gas stations weren't self serve yet...

 

[BurnItDwn]

My little sister is a chemical engineer developing catalysts to get higher yields out of the Canuck oil. She works in a lab, but they have a bunch of people that travel a lot to different refineries. She works for UOP. Unlike me, she went to class and studied. Most of what she does is WAY over my head.

 

[CycloWizard]

I've been in school as a chem engineer for almost 9 years now, which means I know a buttload of chemical engineers. Therefore, I know people that do just about anything you can think of for the oil companies. There are a few jobs you can work as a petroleum engineer, and which one you land depends on which company you work for and what degrees you have. If you have a BS in chemical engineering, you can get a job for an oil company (Shell, Exxon-Mobil, BP, etc.) and do something down the line; you can also get a job for one of the drilling companies like Schlumberger, in which case you'll be out in the field in charge of a drilling team. In the latter case, you'll work very long hours (80+/wk), drive a ton of miles, move all over the place, and make up to $70k. The former you'll be less mobile, drive less, possibly even have a desk job, and make slightly less money. The bottom line is that it really depends on the specifics of the company and the job, as with all engineering jobs.

 

[Soundmanred]

Originally posted by: chorb
Anyone ever been in the petroleum engineering field?

Have any insight as to what its really like as a field engineer (drilling, testing, etc...)? It seems like an exciting job type that could end up traveling all over the world to work. Or am I just glorifying it in my head; as I am tired of sitting at a desk all day, I would rather be outside in some sort of engineering capacity.

You are, trust me.

 

[LS21]

my company employes about 20,000 field engineers. ive recruited and been in training alongside FEs and PEs. PM me if you want

 

[LS21]

okay, PE will actually give you 2 options -- field OR desk

1) field engineer. this is outdoors. tons of travel. potentially long hours. you could do dual shift (ie 14 days working 14 days off). work on rig. travel by helicopter. yes, and easily travel anywhere in the world (usually not 1st or 2nd year while you get training, but after that theyll love you for going to siberia, kl, abu dhabi, etc). theres are many sub-disciplines here... many who do this dont even need PE background (just any engineering will do) and get specific training by the company. you can study muds/fluids, sands, wireline logging, injections, actual drilling engineering, etc etc

2) reservoir engineer/production. this is your desk job. you will have travel, if you want to, just due to the nature of industry. but really youre working in conjunction with the GG team (geologists and geophysicists), to build a 3d subsurface model. you help describe the model (what are characteristics of the actual rock... there are many, you only care about a few). you run simulation. see how much oil (described by GG) can actually produce. computer and physics and (a bit) mathematics based.

both pay really well....... when the market is up

 

[Scarpozzi]

Petroleum Engineering - The study of knowing exactly how much vasoline to apply in the right spots for maximum EoE (ease of entry).

 

[IEC]

Just keep in mind that while we need petrol for the foreseeable future, if supplies dry up or alternative energy becomes viable job security is going to hit the fan...

 

[LS21]

Originally posted by: Spartan Niner
Just keep in mind that while we need petrol for the foreseeable future, if supplies dry up or alternative energy becomes viable job security is going to hit the fan...

kinda true

for the field operations guys, their job will be in jeopardy -- less exploration activity, fewer wells to drill, etc

conversely, however, good reservoir and production engineers will be needed -- to make the most of existing wells. so these guys need to optimize production, do enhanced oil recovery work, etc. they become more valuable as most of their colleagues become less... and aside from alternative energy, there'll alawys be a need for hydrocarbon for plastics and other materials (not just heating/transportation)

 

[TuxDave]

I don't know any personally but all I know is that whenever I look up the "average salary of engineers" they're always on top making my major look poor.

<-- EE.

 

[skim milk]

yeah I read a recent article about some of these students graduating with a degree in petroleum engineering or whatever from some of the Texas universities and they are making near 6 figures