Life as a Petroleum engineer

College Majors Engineering Majors
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<p>Seeing as many of the other threads on this are extremely old, or don't have a wealth of information, I decided to make a new one :p
(Don't flame me, I have used the forum's search function!)</p>

<p>I have read tons upon tons of information on petroleum engineers, but I still can't grasp an overall thingy on their careers. I know we have Forever LSU, who is knowledgeable on PetEng, and we have numerous threads on outlooks, a day in the life etcetc...</p>

<p>What is life like for a Petroleum engineer? What is it that they exactly do on an oil rig, and off an oil rig?</p>

<p>How long does one suppose job security for a petroleum engineer will last? It seems the clock keeps ticking as this security diminishes. This dependence upon oil shall also diminish as the world's oil seems to go KAPUT.</p>

<p>Is it true that they are away from their families for most of the time? Much of the information I've read seems to overstate the fact that PetEngs are always travelling, or on oil rigs. Is it possible for a PetEng to get an office job?</p>

<p>I will be going into PetEng this fall, and am pretty excited. I'm just worried that once the industry goes down in a few years, I will be left with no job, or rather less job security. Would it be smart for me to do gradschool and obtain an MBA, or maybe even double major?</p>

<p>Many of you should have answers, you are all quite knowledgeable!</p>

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<p>…wow it’s about time SOMEONE drank my coolaid! welcome, forever lsu shall be with you shortly.</p>

<p>edit: what school are you going to? and btw: family and petroleum engineering do not go together…</p>

<p>…that’s like putting P-Diddy, puff daddy, sean john, or whatever the **** he wants to be called, with a campaign promotion, ‘vote or die.’ and you can get an office, but you want be making anything compared to those who have their head on straight, working on the rigs…</p>

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<p>haha, that “vote or die” campaign by diddy was an EPIC failure.</p>

<p>anyways, i’m surprised there aren’t many replies. waiting game ON.</p>

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<p>hello. could you please tell me about the job outlook for petroleum engineers? what do u think of synthetic petroleum? how come they make so much more than mining engineers?</p>

<p>if you work on a rig, can you work in contracts like 6months on/6months off? Or will this keep you from ever getting promoted or getting more responsibilities? if you are in a masters program, how would you go about looking for a job?</p>

<p>And now another difficult question:
I majored in science in ugrad and plan to apply to med schools. did well on mcat, poor gpa. so now i have to take postbac and reapply to med schools. but the goal is to get in and then do a 3yr emergency med residnecy and make $150/hr and take vacation whenever i feel like. of course then i’ll only start making money 8yrs from now. which i have some interest in switching, taking some classes and then doing m.s. at colorado school of mines or alaska fairbanks(i’m a skier, so i wouldnt mind it there and if it meant getting a job in alaska, it would be cool). i wonder which career would allow me to make more money and take those 6months vacations?</p>

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<p>Haha, I feel like taxguy, that guy over in the business section always having to repeat the same answers. The job outlook is the best it’s ever been… Oil will last for at least 3 more centuries, and the demand will rise immensely, as countries develop i.e. China and India, along with some 3rd world countries. Now why do we get most of our oil from overseas, like Venuzueila (sp?), and close countries like Canada/Mexico? Simple, the US knows there will never be a replacment for oil in this lifetime, probably much, much longer. So we’re trying to take everyone else’s oil before we have to touch ours. Plus, people 20 years from now will realize how smart Bush and the Iraqi war really was in the future, pretty self explanatory. I see it like this: I can’t be an astronaught, nor can I be a fighter pilot. For this reason, I would probably have a .001% chance of going to space, and even if you do get a pilot slot, you have to go through all that ******** to not washout and graduate in the top 2% to maybe get a chance at jets. lol sorry my stepdad was a f14 pilot in the Navy, but at least I know. So the question left unanswered is: what can I do for a career that provides adventure, that also gives time off, and lets me feel like I’m actually doing something. Well lawyers are crap; the future outcome sucks, IB ■■■■■, doctor, HELL NO! I’ve seen what happens in medicine; I will be the first person on my dad’s side to break the family tradition. When I was younger, I couldn’t understand why people, that could have been saved, were killed. I then obviously realized later that the hospital would be losing money giving aay free medicine to those without insurance. HOW ****ED UP IS THAT!? I still can’t get that out of my mind after all these years! SO NO! Now what could I do to help people, while bringing in bank, while also not shooting myself because I chose something soely for the money?</p>

<p>Petroleum Engineers make the world go around, baby!</p>

<p>Also,</p>

<p>Could you imagine what pick up lines you could have at a bar? 'Hello, I’m a drilling engineer!"
Now I’M SURE you could, easily, make up several pick up lines, which I’m not going to get into. Basically, you would have plenty of time when your off for 180 days of the year.</p>

<p>Now no, you couldn’t take 6 months off, lol are you kidding me?</p>

<p>it usually runs like this:</p>

<p>14 on 14 off, 3-4 in office
14 on 7 off, 4 office, but will be hard to get unless you have major senoirty
21 on 21 off, time in office
maybe 7 on and 7 off, but companies don’t want to waste all that fuel on picking you up in a helicopter.</p>

<p>Now when your on those rigs, you WILL work work 100+ hour weeks, don’t think it’s all fun and games. You will probably get 3 hours of sleep a night, lol, probably less if you want to fly to a bar to pick up some chick to bring her back. So maybe 0. haha, lsu apparently gotta kick out of that.</p>

<p>Anyway, good luck, don’t do it for the money, entirely; because you WILL be miserable. Plus, make sure your head is out of your ass, 'cuz you will be talking most of the time to guys who have 3rd grade educations on those rigs; you know who I’m talking about.</p>

<p>Good luck</p>

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<p>lets make it clear that the only way you are going to a bar is on a land rig, ok. No one is sending in an overnight flight to go bring you back to the shore. Also, 100 work weeks are generally with smaller companies who don’t have the necessary relief and only have a small group of engineers. Engineers who work 100 hour weeks are those that will manage the entire operation. This doesn’t happen to often, and it won’t happen if you work for a corporation. There are many variables that come into play. The industry norm is 14on/14off. Many engineers may have a variable schedule where they will work in an office onshore, then have to go out for 14 days and come back in. It all depends on the project. I wouldn’t become a doctor if you game me the MD, lol. I would hang it on my wall though, lol. Listen, honestly, to half of you people considering petroleum engineering for anything other than loving looking at how cool rock formations and mud cakes are. Spare yourself the pain and sorrow, just become a doctor, lawyer, accountant, whatever. The reason they only have so many of them is because of the geographic location of the job, having to put up with people who have an 8th grade education, the hassles of working for a corp, never truly getting paid enough for what you do, even though you do make well, selling your soul to a company for the next 10 years after you graduate. The first 5 being the plowing years, Plowing as in this beast of a machine.</p>

<p>[Large</a> Dozers / Track-Type Tractors from Caterpillar](<a href=“http://www.cat.com/cda/layout/cda/layout?m=237282&x=7&f=227353]Large”>http://www.cat.com/cda/layout/cda/layout?m=237282&x=7&f=227353)</p>

<p>You people better know what you are getting yourself into. Also, thanks houston, you get more and more hilarious and this year progresses. That whole p-diddy thing was over the top.</p>

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<p>Wealth of info :p</p>

<p>Sorry I forgot to answer, I’m going to Texas A&M this fall! I’m not doing it for money, but that is surely an incentive. I’ve always seemed to excel @ Math and physics, and I love how the world works. Discovery channel = one of my faves (though that may not mean anything) The idea of traveling around, or being on an oil rig, surrounded by vast nothingness is FRIGGIN amazing.</p>

<p>Oh I know what I’m getting into, and to be honest, I’m not at all worried. I also put up with a bunch of dumb***** at school, so I’ll get used to the idiots.</p>

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<p>Please don’t do it more the money. I’ve known many people here at A&M go into it in school for the money and flunk out b/c of the rigor/lack of interest in PE. This included my freshman roommate.</p>

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<p>OH definitely not for the money…and I’m not at all worried about rigor, nor am I worried about failing!</p>

<p>thanks!</p>

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<p>Yes, money cannot be a motivation. The reason I did petroleum engineering I liked it. I didn’t have any interest in any other of the engineering forms. I didn’t do petroleum engineering I would have probably done geology or math. Physics is gay, those people at like they are something, but all physics is math applied to actions that cannot even be simulated in real life. For example, when you read a problem that says, “Water flows out of a barrel at a CONSTANT RATE”, well guess what, it doesn’t, and won’t. I know every mathmatician I’ve met, laughs at the physics department, lol. Anyway, I did petrol because every other form of engineering didn’t interest. For example, I don’t want to build a computer, I want to play on the computer. I don’t want to build a jet, I want to fly the jet. I don’t want to design the car, I want to drive the car. I don’t want to come up with the chemical process to make the food, I want to eat the food, I don’t want to build the house, I want to sleep in the house. I think you get the picture. But I do like staring at dirt, and rolling around in the mud, so petroleum engineering fit my tastes, lol.</p>

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<p>I’m a chemical engineer degree holder…i have been looking for an oil&gas upstream job for quite sometime and have been unsuccessful…</p>

<p>so,i’m planning to do my masters in oil and gas engineering in The Robert Gordon University…</p>

<p>can somebody actually give me some information about the university and the course itself…</p>

<p>will the degree land me in a upstream oil and gas production job…???</p>

<p>thanks in advance…</p>

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<p>That would be theoretical physics, just one branch of the whole realm of physics. You can thank theoretical physics for fluid dynamics, something that any PetroE uses. There’s a real-life simulation.</p>

<p>And don’t forget about that car you drive to school, that building your class is in, that computer you visit CC on… you can thank physics for those as well (and obviously much more).</p>

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<p>I assume you haven’t taken differential equations? That will account for the non-constant rate of water flow. The only reason many freshman physics classes make assumptions like that is because the complexity of the problem without it would be beyond most freshman’s current comprehension of calculus. After all, you have to learn to crawl before you can walk.</p>

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<p>I have taken those classes, I was just being stupid, please, don’t take half of the stuff I say seriously. I was just joking. I know physicists are responsible for many of the things we have today, from cars to the internet. Without physicist, it would be a dark, dark world, lol.</p>

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<p>I was just trying to dog the physics majors, lol, I have a minor in math, I “ASSUME” you are a physics major, I just love ****ing ya’ll off, lol.</p>

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<p>LOL if that’s what you say… I’m in Aerospace Engineering actually.</p>

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<p>I have to deal with Engineers everyday…Ive been asking questions for months now…and this is what ive got out of it…
Petro-Engineering IS NOT a dying field…there is Job security, you just have to know what you are doing and are willing to work to get it,you can have a family…I know lots of guys who have much better relationships at home because…even though they are gone alot…they are home alot…thats just how it is…But…seriously…the industry isnt going to be “going down” in a few years…I know Parker Drilling,TranOcean,Shell and other companies are still drilling in Alaska,Wyoming,the Gulf and other regions even MORE than hey have been in the last few years.Ive worked in the patch for years now and have decided to go into Petro…If I thought it was a dying field…there is no way I would’ve chose to major in it…Oil isnt going anywhere…for quite awhile…and not to mention…if your good…the salaries engineers are pulling in…are INSANE!!I just talked the on-site engineer…who graduated from the University of Wyoming and he makes 1250 a day,plus job bonus,and sub pay and work 21 on 14 off…thats a sick amount of money…and you get to be home alot if you choose the right side of it.</p>

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<p>Thank you for your input! You pretty much answered each question of mine.</p>

<p>Just a waiting game for me now, college ahead of me :D</p>

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<p>The petrol eng here don’t take differential equations with linear algebra though. For anyone majoring in petrol engineering, you’ll find that every class you take will be severly watered down compared to mechanical or electrical engineering classes. Like petrol thermodynamics, lol, I can do is laugh about that one. There really is no comparison, now the fluids classes are more intense than the other specialities. That will be a challenge but if you can make it through, the calc, physics, and differential equation classes in your first year, then everything else is cake.</p>

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<p>It is a pretty broad curriculm so you take a bit of everything, form civil eng, to mechanical, some electrical. Those three will comprise your class structure, and of course your petrol classes. But it is all fun, atleast I think so.</p>

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<p>Whatever the case, you’ll realize how much you don’t know know when you actually meet a chief engineer who has 3 different PhD’s or just hanging around your physics or geology professor’s. You spend more than 15 mins talking to them and you want to go throw yourself off a cliff.</p>