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.
There is a higher percentage of women engineers now than when I started 30 years ago, but it is still male dominated as are most engineering fields. I have never felt disadvantaged likely due to the fact that I entered the industry in the days just after the Arab Oil embargo when crude oil prices were high and projected to continue to climb. Oil companies were competing vigorously for engineers, men or women. Also, I was fortunate in that many of the rig superintendents I worked with were my dad's age and had daughters going into the industry. So, if anything, for me it was reverse discrimination when I went to the rigs. The guys had to sleep with the roughnecks, but I typically got my own room. I have noticed some subtle discrimination, however. For example, I notice that at meetings the men often interrupt each other and never get called on it. However, if I interrupt someone, I am chided to be patient and "wait my turn". As with all engineering fields, women engineers do struggle with the on ramping and off ramping if they significant time off (i.e. years) to raise kids. This does not seem to be as big an issue for doctors and lawyers. Also, we still need to make more progress in offering part time work to women engineers.
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I wish I could help you, but it really depends the country in which you live and/or in which you are seeking work. In the USA, you do not need to have experience if you are seeking an entry level position and have reasonably good grades/gpa.
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I wish that small companies were held to the same high standards for safety, health and the environment that large companies have imposed on themselves. This would level the playing field.
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You can probably find a good explanation if you visit wikipedia or Society of Petroleum Engineers websites. In a nutshell, a jack-up rig has three (sometimes four) legs which penetrate the ocean floor and it does not move. The water depth in which it can drill is limited by the length of the jack up legs, generally up to 400 feet. The other types of rigs are semisubmersibles and drill ships which are, strictly speaking, vessels which are connected to the ocean floor via a riser from which it can easily disconnect. Wikipedia can do this topic much better justice than I can. The fourth common type of rig is a platform rig, which sits on a production platform and can be removed, piece by piece, when the drilling is finished. The production platform itself is a fairly permanent structure which is connected to the ocean floor.
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Take as much mathematics as possible up to and including AP Calculus if offered. I would recommend basic Physics, basic Chemistry and AP Physics, if offered. If offered I would take Geology / Earth Sciences in lieu of Biology. Economics, if offered would be useful, but will be taught in college. Strong proficiency in writing will also be useful.
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Huge PR gaffe
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I think there is very good growth potential because there are a lot engineers in the industry in the 50 to 60 year age bracket who are getting ready to retire. Due to the cyclical nature of the oil business, there is not an even distribution of folks across all age ranges. People in our industry commonly talk about the "great crew change" that is coming and most of the major oil companies and large service companies have increased hiring in the last 5 years because they realize that ten engineers with 4 years of experience do not equal one engineer with 40 years of experience.
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