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.
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.
Share Answer: 
Wow, if I could tell you what is going to happen in the short term, I'd quit my job and spend my days trading oil and gas stocks. Over the long term, you can bet that whatever is happening now is going to change. I would suggest you read some of the great books written on the history of the oil business, like Daniel Yergin's "The Prize". The oil and gas business has always been very cyclical and probably always will be. So long as there are a diversity of countries with oil and gas assets operating under a diversity of political regimes, it's going to be an unpredictable situation.
Share Answer: 
If you are still in school, the number one thing you could do would be to land an internship working for an oil and gas company. That will give you some practical experience. You could also take some courses in Petroleum engineering and geology. The basic problem solving skills you have learned as a chemical engineer will serve you well as a petroleum engineer. Based on the current market conditions, however, the competition is very intense for petroleum engineering jobs. You need to have great grades, good leadership experience (president of a technical society, a sorority or fraternity), good people skills and solid recommendations from professors.
Share Answer: 
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.
Share Answer: 
Freelance Writer
Can a freelance writer live comfortably?
Poet
Does being a professional poet pay the bills?
Lifeguard
Are most public pools just gross lakes of bodily fluids?
Please check out earlier posts. I've already addressed that question.
Share Answer: 
That's a somewhat subjective question, but if you want to measure it on a basis of the total carbon footprint, then clearly oil sands production creates the largest carbon footprint. To extract oil from oil sands requires a very large amount of energy to separate the petroleum from the reservoir rock. That energy is typically generated by burning fossil fuel (either oil or natural gas). The ratio of energy obtained for every unit of energy input is referred to as the Energy Returned on Investment (EROI). For conventional oil production, the ratio is about 25 to 1. For oil sands mining, it is about 5 to 1. This is why oil sands mining is only economical when the price of oil is relatively high. So, from the standpoint of carbon footprint, I would consider it the worst. In terms of net impact to the environment, with proper regulation and oversight, industry can and has been able to responsibly extract petroleum and return the environment to a suitable state in a relatively reasonable period of time. So, I can't really rate all other methods as to which is "best". It is highly dependent on local conditions, local regulations and the integrity and internal standards of the company doing the work.
Share Answer: 
I am not sure what your question ism but I do feel compelled to give you some advice. Prior to investing the time and money in a Petroleum Engineering degree, I suggest you educate yourself on the price of oil and gas. It has collapsed to by 60% from June 2014 (>$100/bbl) to Nov 2015 (~$40/bbl). It is not going to recover any time soon and there have been massive layoffs in the US oil and gas industry. Now is not a good time to be looking for a job as a petroleum engineer. There is a steady demand for civil engineers to basic municipal work (road construction, bridge repair, wastewater treatment, water delivery systems). The pay is not at the top end of the scale, but steady work is better than no work.
Share Answer: 
-OR-
Login with Facebook (max 20 characters - letters, numbers, and underscores only. Note that your username is private, and you have the option to choose an alias when asking questions or hosting a Q&A.)
(A valid e-mail address is required. Your e-mail will not be shared with anyone.)
(min 5 characters)
By checking this box, you acknowledge that you have read and agree to Jobstr.com’s Terms and Privacy Policy.
-OR-
Register with Facebook(Don't worry: you'll be able to choose an alias when asking questions or hosting a Q&A.)
Browse Jobs
Host a Q&A
Search
Submit Your Question
Host a Q&A
Last 7
