<p>I am very interested in working for the oil industry since that line of work is very interesting and appealing to me. Currently, I intend to major in Geological Engineering then continue on to grad school for a masters in either petro or geo engineering again. I chose geo eng over chem and mech since I feel like it is much rarer (increasing job opportunities) and the recent shale-oil boom will likely put geo engineers in high demand. My question being, is this an appropriate path for the petro industry or should I be looking at other majors? Also, if anyone in the petro industry has any advice as to how to proceed on my career path that would be much appreciated. Thanks!</p>
<p>Haha, i was also debating whether to do geo engineering but decided to do mining. If you want to do oil, just do petro… You could easily do chem engineering or mining engineering with a minor in geology and that would put u in the same standing as a geological engineer if you really look at the curriculum’s. Geo engineering is a good major but it was kind of broad which is why i changed majors. I am now doing mining engineering with a minor in geology and might go to grad school for petro.</p>
<p>What school? And what oil companies recruit your school?</p>
<p>I’m going to UW Madison, they unfortunately do not offer Petroleum Engineering (but only like 14 schools do so…) and they advertise recruitment opportunities from BP, Shell, Exxon and EOG Resources. I fully intend to attend graduate school where a Masters in Petroleum Engineering is achievable, is it possible with a degree in geo engineering?</p>
<p>Definitely… You will just have to take defeciency classes to make up for not havin an undergrad in petroleum engineering. Get an internship and get good grades because I’ve been hearin graduate admissions in petroleum engineering is getting ultra competitive.</p>
<p>I am a MechE from UW Madison working in the petroleum industry (downstream). I can tell you that Exxon, BP, Valero, and FHR all heavily recruit at UW Madison. When I got recruited, I had no experience in the industry. Get good grades. Exxon, for example says outright that they will not recruit those with GPA’s under a 3.5 (atleast at UW); however, I have no way of knowing whether they stick to this. Regardless, though, you will undoubtedly be at a disadvantage. Sorry I can’t give you relevant advice relating to prospects coming from a geological engineering background. </p>
<p>In any case, I can assure you that both ChemE’s and MechE’s are recruited by the big names in the Oil and Gas industry.</p>
<p>It all depends on what you want to do in the petroleum industry. Companies in the oil industry employee a large range of engineering expertise. Electrical, Chemical, Geo, Mech, Pet, etc are all needed in some form or another. Once you get started in Geo, you can apply for internships during the summer (or even co-op during the Fall/Spring if you like). Depending on the internship, the company may place you on a couple of different projects and allow you to try your hand at different facets of their operation. My advice on this: apply early, apply frequently (even if you didn’t get it the first time), and really show the company that you want to job. Call them and ask if they received your application, etc. Internships will help your grad application as well as help you determine what you want to ultimately do.</p>
<p>If you go into Geo engineering and like geo, but want something a little different, you can do a petroleum master’s (UT-Austin has a great program: [Petroleum</a> & Geosystems Engineering Department](<a href=“Petroleum & Geosystems Engineering Department”>http://www.pge.utexas.edu/)) in petroleum engineering that will allow you to use your knowledge in geo for something like well design or shale structure modeling. The nice thing about their program, you don’t need a Petroleum engineering bachelors to do the Master’s there.</p>
<p>Chem E is a common pathway into the petroleum industry, but geo is also good. Also depends on the school. Have you looked at schools in Texas for example?</p>
<p>After investigating schools in Texas, I can say that it is a great choice for grad school. I do not intend to transfer from UW Madison (mainly due to cost). For that reason, I suppose it would be wise to make up as many deficit courses as possible in undergrad that don’t fall within my GLE major (i.e. chem and well design courses). Anyone work upstream for an petro company? I am interested in what the work environment is really like.</p>
<p>Just do an undergrad in Petrol E and get it over with. In my experience, they look for the Petroleum Engineering degree. However, if you cannot attend a school with some type of petroleum/or natural gas engineering, geological would probably be a good second bet.</p>
<p>As far as the masters, I think you should really ask yourself what you want the masters for. In my opinion it is a huge waste of time unless you want to get into some research oriented career. Those 2 years would be better spent out in the field getting valuable job experience. That is my view and I’ve spoken with plenty of engineers in the industry who said the same. I wish you luck in your endeavors.</p>
<p>Another thing to be aware of when getting a Masters is the fact that it may very well disqualify you for some pretty interesting and lucrative positions. For example, drilling engineer, drill site/well site management, production engineer. They will look at you and your masters and assume you will want a research intensive position and the recruiting for those positions in the oil field tends to be extremely less than the other entry level engineering positions. You have to decide how you want your career to end up. The engineers I know that got masters and PhDs did so after having experience in the oil patch. Not ahead of the game. Their companies also paid for it. Know as well that companies are looking a lot of engineers and technical degrees to fill field positions. They have enough people who want to work in the office, they need people to actually conduct operations on site. Having a masters can disqualify you for a lot of these positions. Keep that in mind. You are also missing out on the earnings you will never get back for being out of work two more years. Any chart showing earnings for BS,MS, and PhD engineers is a clear indicator of this. Be wary.</p>
<p>I say go for the masters if you want to do like research on new extraction and enhanced recovery methods. Or develop new reservoir evaluation techniques. What do you see yourself doing anyway? What type of person would you like to be in your career?</p>
<p>Thank you for your response! I’ve grown up traveling a lot and really enjoy the adventure of moving often to new locations so I would definitely like to work upstream for a while. I did not know that earning a masters would disqualify you for these positions. I see myself working in remote locations on site for much or my youth, then hopefully moving into management as I get older. In order to progress to management, I’m aware that a masters and/or PhD is most likely required. I’ve heard that many companies pay for you to go back to school, is this true? That would be the ideal situation.</p>
<p>Yes, many of them do cover tuition costs up to 100 percent in some cases. Depends on the company. Some of them even offer leaves of absence for educational purposes if you wanted to go full time, kind of like a sabbatical for educational purposes. I know Shell covers 100 percent of tuition, and Chevron does 75 percent. I am not familiar with the others.</p>
<p>I am a ChemE at UW Madison though not intending to go into the petroleum industry. FHR, Schlumberger, and UOP/Honeywell came and gave presentations to ChemEs during the past year, and these companies and ExxonMobil came to the career fair (not sure if there was more petroleum companies that came, didn’t pay much attention.) I don’t know how many recruited Geological Engineers.</p>
<p>Edit: Schlumberger recruited Field Engineers (Geological,BS or MS entry level and intern) at the past career fair in spring.</p>
<p>SLB would definately recruit engineers with advanced degrees because they are always searching for people. My opinion is that who would do a masters to be a field engineer for Slb. The experience someone will have with Slb will be no where near the experience with an operator. That goes for the other service companies including Hes. The only one I could recommend would be Baker. Everyone I ever met that worked for them was generally miserable. Just a heads up. It is not uncommon for their field engineers like the frac and completions guys to stay up for 3 or 4 days offshore supervising fluid operations. A buddy of mine was a specialist with them and he had to quit after 4 years. Suffered for an extreme case of insomnia and had to go to emotional consoling. Know what you are getting yourself into.</p>
<p>I was unaware, not interested in working with these companies, so thanks.</p>
<p>The companies that I would personally recommend would be Shell, Chevron, BP, Anadarko, and Hilcorp. Anadarko is more of a midsize company, and Hilcorp is very small. I believe Hilcorp only recruits from the Louisiana/Texas/Oklahoma schools. Chevron and Shell have excellent work life balance, benefits, pension, atmosphere, and employee satisfaction. I got a really good vibe from both of them when I interviewed for them and chose to pursue a job with one of them. BP would probably be the highest paying out the “Big 3” listed. Hilcorp has amazing benefits and bonuses. They do a big bonus every 5 years or so. A classmate of mine ended up working for them and the last go round you either got a luxury car or 50,000 dollars. The next time will be 100,000 if they reach their goals. They really take care of their people. Anadarko is really hot with new discoveries and overall is a good company. These are the ones I recommend from my experience and others in the industry.</p>
<p>@bruthaman in your experience in the industry, what majors and/or qualifications do most newly hired employees have at these companies?</p>
<p>The majority of people I’ve seen who work in these companies in operations have either have some sort of associate/bachelor’s in engineering technology like Mechanical or Petroleum. Or they have a full engineering degree in Mechanical or Petroleum. Sometimes even Civil Engineers and I’ve seen a few Chem E’s get jobs, however it tends to be on the downstream end. I do know of one Aerospace guy who is a drill site manager, however he seems to be a rare selection. A Safety technology degree is really hot for people who want to work in compliance and become a rig safety manager. A lot of the companies listed have their select colleges they recruit from. To get hired on with an associates you typically have to have some type of mechanical trade background. Either from working in a trade like mechanical, machining, etc. or military training. A lot of it has to do with leadership ability as well. If you are directing a well site or working on an oilfield platform, communication skills are essential. A clean background also is required or you will never pass their background check process. I have a friend of mine who is interning for one of the companies listed. He will be in his last semester toward his associates in petroleum technology this fall. He is working offshore currently in a 14 day on, 14 day off schedule. His mentor told him if he does well they will select him after he finishes his degree and the base pay somewhere in the 70-75k range to start and he told me top pay is somewhere in the 120-130k range. That doesn’t include his bonuses that add up to around 10 percent of his salary. Not to mention the 401k contributions and pension plan. From what he said he loves it. He was in the Navy so he is used to the water. Not bad for an associates degree. </p>
<p>The entire hiring process is pretty extensive. Background check, drug screening including urine and hair sample. I’m currently in the background stage and have been in the hiring process for a few months now. Consisted of three interviews, a screening, a phone, and a formal on site interview. Its a pretty lengthy process.</p>