Petroleum engineers are responsible for designing and overseeing natural gas and oil retrieval using different engineering methods. For this task, they are required to go in depth beneath the earth’s surface.
Petroleum Engineering is considered one of the most popular engineering fields. It focuses on the activities/tasks which help to explore and produce hydrocarbons. These hydrocarbons can both be crude oil, coal or natural gas.
What Petroleum Engineers Actually Do?
Petroleum engineers design equipment that extracts oil from reservoirs, which are deep pockets of rock that contain oil and gas deposits. To do this, they spend a lot of time gathering and analyzing data to extract the oil in the safest and most cost-effective ways possible.
They also do a lot of evaluating and refining of systems to make them better. A decent amount of the oil extracted by petroleum engineers in the U.S. comes from Texas.
Petroleum engineers also perform the task of providing their suggestions on the drilling sites on the basis of their costs, the feasibility of product retrieval, etc.
They usually test the drilling samples for the site and then determine the safe yet easier method for oil or gas retrieval. In the process of retrieving the oil, sometimes it rises on the surface automatically with some pressure and without the need for any petroleum engineer.
Petroleum engineers are strongly needed when the oil needs to get pumped to the surface.
What Is The Average Salary For a Petroleum Engineer In The USA?
The average salary for a petroleum engineer is $101/year (as of 2022). The total cash earnings of the petroleum engineers range from $66K to $172K on the high end.
Base Salary | $66k - $172k |
Bonus | $1k - $49k |
Profit Sharing | $101 - $43k |
Commission | $0 - $52k |
Total Pay | $65k - $194k |
The majority of people appointed at this job are highly satisfied with their jobs. They enjoy all the medical facilities. According to the salary survey, the salary of petroleum engineers in the USA tops the list of highly-paid jobs.
What Are The Main Responsibilities Of Petroleum Engineers?
In order to complete the job successfully, petroleum engineers need to perform the tasks:
- Designing the pumping process
- Overseeing the drilling process
- Prospecting process
- Managing storage equipment
- Providing technical recommendations for achieving good economic progress
- Assessing the effort, cost, and feasibility of retrieving the oil or the natural gas.
- Determining different resources (tools and equipment) needed for this task
- Finding methods and techniques for improving the oil/gas production
Petroleum engineers perform a number of tasks at different drilling sites.
They also oversee the building and subterranean drills, different required equipment, and oil derricks.
After establishing the well, they sought different methods and techniques so that the oil and gas production could be improved.
Furthermore, they also modify and design certain tools and also provide their technical recommendations for achieving good economic progress. These engineers are required to work at sea on different drilling platforms, particularly drilling ships.
Petroleum engineers spend most of their time outdoors mostly by designing, maintaining, and building oil pipelines. They can be appointed at work by different oil storage organizations.
Plenty of petroleum engineers choose to work for an oil company. However, some petroleum engineers choose their careers to be at research facilities or educational institutes (colleges, universities, or trade schools).
How To Become a Petroleum Engineer? – Education And Requirements
Petroleum engineers are first required to acquire a bachelor’s degree in engineering, specifically petroleum engineering. However, any other similar bachelor’s degree in related engineering fields (such as mechanical, civil, or chemical engineering) can be welcomed by many employers.
Students interested in petroleum engineering need to understand math (algebra, trigonometry, calculus) and science (biology, chemistry, geology, and physics).
For an entry-level petroleum engineering job, you also need to have practical experience that many colleges and universities now offer now in their curriculum.
To work as a petroleum engineer, you must have a degree from an ABET-accredited engineering program. That will open doors for you to upgrade yourself to higher levels of leadership and independence and become a licensed Professional Engineer (PE) later in your career.
What Skills Petroleum Engineers Need To Have?
Because of the complexity of their job, petroleum engineers need to have the following skills and qualities:
- Excellent math skills – Petroleum engineers usually love math and are excellent in math-related topics such as calculus, algebra or trigonometry. These skills will help them when designing and analyzing the engineering work required in the field.
- Analytical skills – When dealing with large amounts of technical information and data, petroleum engineers need to rely on their analytical skills in order to ensure smooth operation in the facilities.
- Problem-solving skills – The problems in this field can be very costly! That’s why petroleum engineers need to be great problem-solvers in order to properly assess the drilling plans and quickly address any potential problems. In addition, they need to be very creative and come up with effective designs for extracting gas and oil in the best possible way.
- Communication skills – Petroleum engineers work in a team with many people that operate complex machinery. So they need to have very open and clear communication with the oil/gas workers and other engineers in order to complete the job safely and efficiently.
The Importance Of Petroleum Engineers
Today we all are aware that energy is an important aspect of our daily lives, and we couldn’t imagine our life without energy.
For achieving a better energy future, a proper balance between environmental impact and affordable supply is needed.
Petroleum engineers help us in addressing and solving issues regarding energy security. That is the reason that petroleum engineers are in huge demand nowadays.
Final Words
Research suggests that the job of the petroleum engineer is considered the highest-paying job in America.
It is because the energy industry emphasizes new means of extraction and refinement of petroleum. This demand makes this job the highest growth outlook of the top-paying jobs of the USA.