Career Profiles Petroleum Engineers
Petroleum engineers are professional engineers who specialize in the extraction and production of oil and natural gas. According to the AmericanBureau of Labor Statistics, petroleum engineers have engineering degrees, usually work in the energy sector and earn an average salary of between $94,000 and $123,000 per year. With production of unconventional oil sources booming in North America,media reportsindicate that petroleum engineers are now in high demand.
Along with petroleum geology, which specializes in searching for and estimating the size of fossil fuel deposits, petroleum engineers are the cornerstone of the oil and natural gas production industry. Jobs for petroleum engineers include designing equipment to extract oil and gas from subterranean fields more efficiently, evaluating and improving the cost-effectiveness of extraction techniques relative to the economic value of recoverable oil, overseeing well construction and testing and managing the installation, operation or maintenance of specialized equipment used at oil fields. Since there is usually more oil detectable in the ground than can be recovered profitably using current technology, the petroleum engineer serves a crucial role in maximizing how much oil can be extracted profitably.
The job of petroleum engineer is now a century old or more, but it has gradually increased in professionalism and technical sophistication as the easiest oil fields have become depleted. Typically, to become a petroleum engineer, students must earn a bachelor's degree (or a higher degree) in engineering at an accredited university. Many schools have specialized programs in petroleum engineering, like thePetroleum and Geosystems Engineering programat the University of Texas at Austin or theSchool of Mining and Petroleum Engineeringat the University of Alberta. These programs will often stress academic achievement in physics, chemistry and mathematics.
After completing their education, new graduates are legally required to be certified and licensed before calling themselves professional engineers. TheSociety of Petroleum Engineers, which currently has "more than 110,000 members in 141 countries," certifies new petroleum engineers who have a recognized engineering degree, passa certification examand have at least four years of relevant work experience. Legal requirements vary depending on the jurisdiction in which a person hopes to practice. For example, in Alberta, which is the heart of the booming Canadian oil sands industry, new petroleum engineers must pass theNational Professional Practice Examinationand then apply for certification from theAssociation of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta(APEGA).
Once they have completed their education, initial work experience, and certification, petroleum engineers work in all areas of the oil and gas sector. According to theBureau of Labor Statistics, there were 30,200 working petroleum engineers in the United States in 2010. Almost half of them worked directly in oil and gas extraction. The rest work in manufacturing, mining support activities, and a variety of other work areas where oil and gas issues crop up. Currently, the Bureau states that this career is increasing rapidly in demand. It forecasts that the total number of working petroleum engineers will rise by 17 percent over the next ten years.
Professional jobs in the oil fields can often be very highly demanding, requiring extensive travel to and from work sites and very long work hours while on the site. In exchange, however, the pay can be high. The Bureau states that petroleum engineers working in the oil and gas extraction sector took home an average salary of just over $123,000 in 2010, with some earning over $165,000. Petroleum engineers working in other sectors is not as high as in the oil and gas sector. Salaries tend to increase significantly as individuals gain experience and demonstrate their competence to potential employers.
