Oil Comp Engr
38 Years Experience
Houston, TX
Female, 60
I recently retired from a major integrated oil company after 38 years. I have degrees in Civil and Petroleum Engineering. I worked with safety, health and environmental management systems and operations in the upstream (finding and producing oil and gas) and downstream (refining, chemicals and distributions) areas. I travelled all over world, enduring good & bad business cycles and good and bad managers.
A good background in economics will always come in handy.
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The biggest advantage that a Petroleum Engineer has when it comes to internships is with independent oil and gas companies. They typically do not have as much in-house training as the integrated oil and gas companies do. At the integrated oil and gas companies, they are accustomed to providing training to graduates with degrees in mechanical, chemical etc. In today's economy, I advise students (in the USA, anyway) to shy away from Petroleum Engineering so that they have more options when they graduate.
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Your question is very broad. When you say "hire-able", it would depend on what you want to do. Many of the oil company research labs do employ folks with a PhD in physics. So, if you want to do research, then a PhD in physics would make you employable, depending on what you have specialized in within the field of physics and what the companies need right now. You would probably not be employable in today's current climate as an engineer because you might need too much training. When the price of oil is high and the supply of engineers was low, I have seen companies hire folks with technical degrees (applied math, physics) and train them to do the engineering work. Unfortunately, the price of oil is relatively low (it has collapsed 50% since June 2014) and the supply of engineers is high. As to your question on salary, it will increase in relation to the supply and demand situation as well as inflation. Petroleum engineers are typically among the highest paid engineering disciplines. You can find more information on the US Bureau of Labor Statistics website. Please keep in mind that my area of expertise is USA based. Things can be quite different in other countries.
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I am a petroleum engineer, not a doctor or a mechanic. Suggest you consult the guys at CarTalk about making the smell go away and talk to your doctor about your health. While we know that benzene, found in gasoline, can cause cancer, it typically takes YEARS of exposure.
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I suggest you read the posts at the beginning. I've already answered this question
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It will depend on the particular university you plan to attend. However many of your undergraduate classes like physics, statics, dynamics, calculus will be similar to what the petroleum undergraduates will have had. One thing they will have had that you will need is some geology courses. You should be able to catch up pretty quick, though.
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Unless you are at the VERY top of your class when you graduate, you may have a hard time finding a job. In the US, we have shed nearly 150,000 jobs over the last 6 months due to the severe drop in the price of oil. Petroleum engineering graduates in the US are having a very difficult time finding a job. I would strongly recommend that you broaden your background by getting a degree in mechanical or civil engineering. Civil is a good fit with your geological background (I have my bachelor's in Civil). In this way you may be able to get a job outside the oil industry. It may pay less than petroleum engineers are making but you have a better chance of getting at least some kind of job. When the price of oil recovers (it will, but it's just a matter of time and it may take years), you can always jump back into the oil industry.
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