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.
Whole novels have been written about peak oil, so I could not do it justice here. I would just say that because petroleum delivers an unbeatable amount of btu's per unit volume as compared to other energy sources and because there is a mature and highly functioning infrastructure to refine and deliver it to the market, it can continue to command high prices. The high prices fuel technological motivation to find more oil. Horizontal drilling combined with fracturing is a splendid example of how we have now economically unlocked reserves that we knew were there. Because we can drill multiple wells from one surface location, we are able to produce the oil (and gas) with a smaller impact on the environment than previously. I think more breakthroughs will come in the future so it is hard to predict when/if we will hit peak oil.
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Both are good choices. It really depends on what you enjoy doing. Petroleum Engineering seems offers a bit more variety because you could be a reservoir engineer, drilling engineer, subsurface engineering, etc. However, you need to research the requirements for a graduate degree in Petroleum engineering. Depending on the undergraduate courses you took, you may have to spend quite a bit of time taking undergraduate engineering courses before you are allowed to take the graduate level engineering courses.
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I don't know what a PGDip is and I don't know what country you are in. I can only answer questions on conditions in the USA. Sorry.
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Reservoir engineers are in the office most of the time and their primary focus is understanding and predicting how much the reservoir will produce and the flow rates. Reservoir engineers (plus geologists) are THE decision makers on whether to develop a field, purchase an asset, sell off the field, etc. Reservoir engineers need to be able to work with geologists and managers, but also need to be self-motivated in order to run simulations, calculate economics, etc. working by themselves for long periods of time. Drilling engineers can be out in the field a lot, but depending on the type of wells, they can also spend months (or even years) in the office planning the well. Drilling engineers manage the project of getting the well drilled - estimating the costs, designing the wellbore, ordering and inspecting equipment, writing procedures, visiting the rig for key operations and then studying what went well and didn't go well for use next time. Drilling engineers need to be able to work with every type of personality from the roughneck on the rig to geologists who always want to drill "just 100 feet more!" to the senior manager who wants to know why the well went over budget. Starting salaries are very comparable and both have good prospects for job growth. Both are just as likely to be subject to layoffs as well. If the price of oil goes down, you stop drilling as many wells (so you need less drilling engineers) and eventually you start selling off or shutting in some of your fields (so you need less reservoir engineers). If you are pursuing employment with a company that will grant you some flexibility, I always advise folks to start their career in operations (drilling, subsurface, facilities) and later transition to reservoir or planning. Some companies don't offer that flexibility, so in that case, pick the job that appeals to you the most. This is why internships are so incredibly important.
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Dry Cleaner
Why don't more dry cleaners stay open late?
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The major oil companies do their own drilling for complex, higher risk wells such as those drilled in deep water or very remote locations and rank wildcat wells. I have seen some companies contract out the drilling of very simple, lower risk wells on a turn key basis to service companies but I don't think this is a very significant portion of the number of wells drilled. ultimately, the liability for safe and environmentally sound operations rests with the oil company, so it is in their best interest to be involved most of the time.
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This sounds very strange. Any reputable refinery would not have a contractor buy goods for them using his own money.
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The purpose of this forum is to answer questions about what it is like to work as a petroleum and/or environmental engineer, not to do people's work for them. Sorry, but you need to consult a textbook.
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