Careers in Petroleum Engineering
The demand for safe, affordable, clean energy has never been greater. And you can help meet this need. If you want to make a difference in the world—and if you are looking for challenge, adventure, choices, and excellent financial rewards—consider a career in petroleum engineering. Petroleum engineers make the world run. They search the far corners of the Earth and the world’s oceans to find and produce oil and gas supplies. They keep energy flowing to light and heat our homes. They fuel our transportation systems and keep our industries operating. They spark the creation of thousands of products, from medicines and plastics to textiles and cosmetics. And they do all these things with the highest regard for protecting the environment. If you want to make a difference in the world, choose a career in petroleum engineering.
Enter a World of Choices and Challenges
Petroleum engineering isn’t just one job. It is many different specialties, each with its own unique challenges and rewards. You can be a drilling engineer, working with geologists and contractors in designing and supervising drilling operations, many of which are multimillion-dollar ventures. You can work as a production engineer, developing processes and equipment to optimize oil and gas production. Or you can become a reservoir engineer and help determine ideal recovery processes, estimate the number of wells that can be economically drilled, and simulate future performance using sophisticated computer models. You can be a manager, an entrepreneur, economist, or environmental/safety specialist. Petroleum engineers may also find rewarding opportunities in such fields as teaching, consulting, and government service. Groundwater hydrology, environmental engineering, and safety engineering are other specialties within the petroleum industry. But your choices don’t stop there.
Make the World Your Marketplace
Explore the high seas, remote jungles, vast deserts, and mountain ranges, developing oil and gas reserves where no one has drilled before. Help boost the energy production (and perhaps the entire economy) of countries around the globe. Live and work in many countries. Understand other cultures. As a petroleum engineer, travel—and the opportunity to become a citizen of the world—can be a part of your career adventure.
Choose Your Work Environment
Where you work and the type of company you join are up to you. Options include working outdoors at a field location, indoors with a computer—or both. You can develop your talents within a multinational corporation or a small company, or become an independent operator and head your own firm. Your future can be what you want it to be. Read what people in the industry say about their jobs at enerygyprofessions.org.
Pages: 1 2
