<p>
[quote]
Also, Petroleum Engineering is really a mix of mechanical/chemical and business. I know quit a few petroleum engineers who went off into consulting or financial firms in energy trading, due to their experience.
[/quote]
My plan exactly. After a few years, I'm heading off for my MBA and switching fields, although it will be hard to leave that handsome salary behind.</p>
<p>Great posts guys. I've learned a great deal!</p>
<p>One of my friends is interested in petroleum engineering. I was wondering, what are the good schools for petroleum engineering? Also, would there any be good schools for it in the Boston area since he likes Boston? I'm thinking that the good schools will be in the Texas area but not sure. Anyone care to shed light?</p>
<p>petroleum engineering is undergrad or grad major?</p>
<p>Jai6638:</p>
<p>The best schools are (from rankings and industry experience): UT-Austin, Stanford, Texas A&M, Colorado School of Mines, University of Tulsa, LSU, OU and UC Berkley (if they still have it). The Univerisity of Houston also had a damn good masters program that is perfect for those working in the downtown OIL center.</p>
<p>mohak: Both, it can be a UG or graduate major.</p>
<p>Does going to a better school offer any advantages when it comes time for recruitment?</p>
<p>
[quote]
I know a girl who started for Exxon recently and is making 80-90K. Plus in just a few months she has traveled extensively...including international travel. Can't beat that.
[/quote]
Are you serious? Is she a petroleum engineer or is she working in some other role?</p>
<p>
[quote]
Does going to a better school offer any advantages when it comes time for recruitment?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Yes Big Oil companies heavily recruit at the aforementioned schools due to the strength of their petroleum engineering programs and industry/research project relations. I know that a certain big oil company actually ranks/categorizes schools according to tiers and even ranks their prospective applicants. </p>
<p>I want to clarify that the schools I listed are by NO MEANS the only schools that big oil companies will look at, if a recruiter comes to your campus, you have just as strong of a chance as another applicant. It's just harder to get your foot through the door if a recruiter doesn't visit your school. </p>
<p>
[quote]
I know a girl who started for Exxon recently and is making 80-90K. Plus in just a few months she has traveled extensively...including international travel. Can't beat that.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Yep, I know that Exxon will do that. If you are a foreign student, it'll be pretty easy to be sent abroad.</p>
<p>Steevee</p>
<p>Yeah I'm serious. She is not a foreign student. I may have been a little misleading, because I think she might have stayed in school a year longer and got her master's (I think, I'm pretty sure she didn't though). Her major was metallurgical and materials engineering. I know she is very smart and hardworking. As I mention on almost every post, networking works wonders. She met some guy who worked for Exxon at a conference and got an on-the-spot interview. A few months later she was hired. I am not sure what her title is. I will contact her and find out. Remember though, Exxon is the largest publicly traded oil company.</p>
<p>nshah9617: I was just curious because I was under the impression that only IB or MC firms place a heavy emphasis on rankings. I go to a highly ranked engineering school in Canada (it's one of the two that are most talked about here), but not in petroleum engineering. However, I will have a number of internships by the time I graduate. Of the 6 internships I will have, 2 of them were somewhat irrelevant. The next one I'm starting this fall will be in the downstream area, though it's great to get my foot in the door in the industry. Will internships be superior over the reputation of the school?</p>
<p>uaprophet: I can't believe such a sweet deal exists for a fresh grad. What kind of conference was it?</p>
<p>So going to a school like montana tech or Texas tech will hurt me? They are both very affordable, unlike the other schools... Also, would you recommend getting a masters in pe?</p>
<p>Steevee:</p>
<p>Internships are worth far far more than school reputation. If you already have oil/gas experience, you will be much more competitive than someone else, even if they have a "brand name" school. </p>
<p>On a side note Canada has some strong oil/gas programs due to the tar shales and other developing technologies. Also, my advice on internships are that you should strive to move around within a company and get a diverse experience--try drilling/completions, production, facilities or reservoir engineering. Particularly, try to get a drilling/completions internship first since they are field positions and will give you good pay but more importantly, valuable experience.</p>
<p>DaNDHIrishGuy:</p>
<p>Not at all. I know many interns/new hires from Texas Tech and while I'm not sure about Montana Tech but I know a guy from Montana State. </p>
<p>
[quote]
Also, would you recommend getting a masters in pe?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>If you plan to stay in the Oil/Gas industry, a Masters in PGE or Geology will help immensely. Most of the big paying, management and positions of responsibility go to the Petroleum engineers--hell, that is where most of the money is made anyway. </p>
<p>A PGE/GEO masters will help you rise up the ranks higher and you will certainly get a higher pay grade than your ME/EE/ChemE counterparts. I'm not saying it is much harder to rise up with a ME/EE/ChemE masters but a PGE masters will be much more competitive.</p>
<p>Personally, I feel that the combination is a ME/ChemE UG degree and a MS in Petroleum--I found that while the petroleum UGs had technical acumen in drilling and what not, some lacked fundamental knowledge of anything beyond their comfort zone.</p>
<p>I'm in the National Society of Black Engineers (don't have to be black to join, lol). I think she met him at one of our regional conferences. However, I know she is in Society of Women Engineers as well, so it could've been from there. Join your professional society or any professional society and attend the conferences. I went to my first conference earlier this year and if I didn't already have plans for this summer I could've landed a couple internships. My friend landed an internship for Summer 2009 from a conference in Fall 2007.</p>
<p>
[quote]
'm in the National Society of Black Engineers (don't have to be black to join, lol). I think she met him at one of our regional conferences. However, I know she is in Society of Women Engineers as well, so it could've been from there. Join your professional society or any professional society and attend the conferences. I went to my first conference earlier this year and if I didn't already have plans for this summer I could've landed a couple internships. My friend landed an internship for Summer 2009 from a conference in Fall 2007.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>How does this work? I know a friend who joined the Society of Hispanic Engineers even though he wasn't Hispanic. Is the goal to go to the conferences? However, wouldnt the internship opportunities only be open to the african americans? How do you manage to secure internships? Just talk to random people at the conference?</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>nshah9617:
My plan exactly. I was actually trying to get a co-op job in the upstream side of the business, but I was never able to land an interview. Hopefully after the job in the fall, I'll be able to get at least interviews for oil companies in Calgary. Perhaps I'll have fairly good chances to get into the upstream side within the same company, although I'd like to aim for larger companies out west (maybe even American ones too). </p>
<p>Do you have any comments regarding volunteering as research assistants (during my study terms) with professors working porous media research? I've had trouble getting in touch with the other prof doing research in EOR, so porous media is the next closest thing there is (for upstream anyway).</p>
<p>Also, that's an interesting comment about a master's in PE. Dose it matter if it's FT vs PT? MSc vs M.Eng?</p>
<p>Just want to thank you so far nshah9617. You've been of tremendous help!</p>
<p>uaprophet:
Thanks for sharing! I'll start looking around.</p>
<p>If you can't get a co-op/internship, research experience is your next best bet. Though another difficult but rewarding option is to work/intern as a roughneck--though that will be very demanding...</p>
<p>As far as research goes, first talk to the Petroleum Professors (if any) and if not head to the Geology department. In fact, if you can't get a Petroleum Eng position, a geology position would be equivalent if not better. Much of Petroleum Engineering is basic geology and therefore that might be a more worthwhile avenue. If they offer to pay you great but if they don't, make sure you aren't over worked. Also, try to join SPE (Society of Petroleum Engineers) for the networking. Good pick for choosing EOR but another topic you might want to look at is heavy oil or tar shale production.</p>
<p>What is your UG major? </p>
<p>Unless you want to become a research scientist or get a PhD, a M. Eng is a better option than the MSc. As I said before, much of the oil/gas industry is based on on-site training (a Mechanical Eng. can easily be trained to be a Petro ) so you'll probably want to get out of school quickly to start gaining valuable experience. On the same note, I'd go for a Full Time degree rather than the Part Time, since you can get out of school faster. Besides, if you are working in the field, it will be harder to attend classes.</p>
<p>However on that note, Texas A&M offers distance learning classes for a Masters or PhD in Petroleum Engineering.</p>
<p>I was asking about the research position as a supplement to my co-op terms, not a replacement :)</p>
<p>Care to expand on "much of petroleum engineering is basic geology"? I was thinking about taking courses in geophysics. Any keywords to look for?</p>
<p>I'm a chemical engineering undergrad heading off to a downstream co-op job in a couple of weeks. I'm thinking of adding research exp. and taking courses in areas relevant to the upstream side to enhance my competitiveness for my upstream job hunt for my future co-op terms.</p>
<p>Petroleum Engineering is a mixture of business, mechanical/chemical engineering and geology. </p>
<p>As a Mechanical UG, I took a few graduate petroleum engineering classes just to get a feel for the field. You'll find that most of the "engineering" within Petroleum Engineering is just slightly watered down Mechanical/Chemical engineering concepts with a specific scope to hydrocarbons--which is completely understandable due to specialization of the field. </p>
<p>For example, Production Engineering is pretty much a fluids/thermodynamics and transport phenomena class and Drilling is more of dynamics/selection class. The oil industry itself is pretty conservative when it comes to change and therefore you'll find plenty of tables, charts that delegate the "engineering" to matching parameters. </p>
<p>However, the geology portions of Petroleum Eng are probably the hardest (IMO) and most important. While you will learn many new theories and concepts within your PetroE classes, typically your oil company will have a standard method of drilling anyway. </p>
<p>I think it is important to get a firm grasp on the geology since you can position yourself in a higher position, especially within the upsteam business since that is where the real money/fun is. While drilling is drilling, is it the geologists and reservoir engineers who help find the potential fields and make the major capital decisions. </p>
<p>As far as geology classes go, make sure you get the basics with sedimentary rock, porous rocks, formations and a geophysics class. If you get a masters in PetroE, you'll learn the basics but I suggest taking a few advanced classes (depending on your interest) and especially if you go into reservoir engineering.</p>
<p>The overall goal of NSBE (and respectively for SHPE) is to increase the number of culturally responsible black engineers who excel academically, succeed professionally, and positively impact the community. It is essentially a very large student run organization which strives to ensure the development of current & future black engineers. It was started in the early 70s and though the primary goal was to help black engineers, it is by no means exclusive. There are several non-black members at my school.
Anyway, we have various goals - we like all our members to be able to attend the conferences as they provide additional benefits, but they can be expensive depending on where they are located (our 2009 national conference is in Las Vegas and I live in Alabama). Now, internships or whatever are not given away but just the fact that you can meet a representative in person always comes in handy. At many conferences though, several companies explicity state that they are looking to hire 'X' number of people for internships, co-ops, and even full-time positions. At the national conventions there are hundreds of employers ranging from oil companies, financial institutions, R&D companies, etc. I remember speaking with one representative at a company booth just to receive the gift bag, next thing I know, I am in the back room for an interview. The opportunities aren't restricted to just blacks. The majority of our members are black so it may appear that way. And yeah, pretty much just open your mouth and introduce yourself- you never know what will come of it, even if it is just a business card. I am normally a quiet guy but am learning to become less of an introvert. Some representatives will stop you and introduce themselves and start a conversation. Anyway, I'll stop here to save from changing the topic of this discussion.</p>
<p>I'm about to enlist into the Air Force and was wondering if anyone knew which career/job fields would translate into the Oil & Gas industry? So no one has to search all through the air force website, I'll list the ones that I think might be possible below, followed by the link that will include the descriptions of each career/job. I would really appreciate anyone who can help me with this!</p>
<p>Environmental- 3E4X3</a> - PEST MANAGEMENT</p>
<p>Engineering- 3E5X1</a> - ENGINEERING</p>
<p>Technical Applications Specialist- 9S100</a>, Technical Applications Specialist</p>
<p>Ground Radar Systems- 2E0X1</a> - GROUND RADAR SYSTEMS</p>
<p>Aerospace Ground Equipment- 2A6X2</a> - AEROSPACE GROUND EQUIPMENT</p>
<p>Bioenvironmental Engineering- 4B0X1</a> - BIOENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING</p>
<p>Aircraft Hydraulics Systems- 2A6X5</a> - AIRCRAFT HYDRAULIC SYSTEMS</p>
<p>Fuels- 2F0X1</a> - FUELS</p>
<p>Nuclear Weapons- 2W2X1</a> - NUCLEAR WEAPONS</p>
<p>Structural- 3E3X1</a> - STRUCTURAL</p>
<p>Liquid Fuel System Maintenance- 3E4X2</a> - LIQUID FUEL SYSTEMS MAINTENANCE</p>
<p>TxTechU,</p>
<p>Engineering or anything power systems/machinery would be good. Are you planning on going into the oil/gas right after the Air Force or attend college after?</p>
<p>hi,
i am an under graduate(EE) from indian university.how can i enter this field .?do i need any work permit or something like that.?or any special course or program is there that i should undergo? please help me.</p>