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.
It's pretty risky. As you can see in my previous posts, you don't have to get a petroleum engineering degree to go into the oil business. The vast majority of engineers have degrees in Mechanical, Chemical or Civil. My undergraduate is in Civil. The only reason I have a master's degree in Petroleum is because my company paid for it while I worked full time and because the demand for petroleum engineers was sky-high. If the industry does rebound by 2026, they will be hiring engineers with diverse backgrounds and training them on the job.
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Absolutely! You need to read up on the Deepwater Horizon tragedy that occurred in the US Gulf of Mexico in 2010. 15 souls lost their lives due to mistakes made by the drilling engineers, the rig superintendents and management, in my opinion. I have read the studies and it is clear to me that the people responsible did not follow standard operating procedure. Things that I learned within the first few days on the job when I started in 1981. There are MANY more cases of blowouts (aka well control incidents) that cost people their lives.
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Yes. Give me your email and I will contact you.
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Right now, I doubt there will be any internships for petroleum engineering students in the USA. Many companies are laying off engineers. The price of oil has collapsed and it will be a long time until we recover. I would strongly advise you to switch to a different major like mechanical, chemical or civil engineering. Even they are going to have a tough time get a job in this current economy.
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No, I do not. If you have good grades and an honors degree, you should focus on getting a job ASAP. The oil industry is collapsing and many companies are laying people off. This is the worst oil recession I have seen in my career, which is nearly 40 years in length. If you can't get a job, considering getting a master's degree in mechanical or chemical engineering, which is much more marketable. Best of luck to you.
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This is beyond my area of expertise. I suggest you consult the internet.
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I would contact the Society of Petroleum Engineers at www.spe.org. There is a "contact us" button on their webpage. You should be aware that the price of oil is at historically low levels and many oil and gas companies are laying people off. The industry is cyclical and could rebound, but, as you will see in my other postings, I recommend getting a degree in an engineering discipline that has a bit more flexibility - mechanical, chemical or civil. 4 or 5 years is a lot of time to invest in a degree where you may not be able to get a job upon graduation. If the oil industry rebounds, companies will be hiring engineers with all kinds of degrees. However, a petroleum engineering degree is not readily transferable to other industries.
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