Petroleum engineering in the long run?

I’m about to go Texas A&M and am going to major in some type of engineering field. Right now I’m thinking petroleum engineering to be a reservoir engineer. The issue is the oil and I know things aren’t the best & I’ve read other discussions that just turned me away for a bit, but the oil industry has always been interesting to me.

So a few questions:

  1. Is it going to be tough to get internships and then job offers after college?
  2. Who gets laid off the most: office jobs or field jobs?
  3. Will salaries be the same for the upcoming years?
  4. Most importantly, am I, along with others considering petroleum eng, making a mistake by majoring in it?

Also, if I ditch the petroleum engineering, I’ll probably look into industrial or computer engineering.

Yes. There are far too many people who got into it because they heard it had the highest starting salary. Some universities even send out letters noting that their enrollment is too large to keep up with demand.

https://costofcollege.■■■■■■■■■■■■■/2013/02/19/a-warning-to-petroleum-engineering-students/

I don’t know, but you won’t be safe either way. Look at this current oil price plunge, and think about how many people lost their jobs or took a massive salary cut over it. This sort of thing happens very frequently because oil is highly cyclical.

No. Cyclical market, cyclical salaries.

Maybe. Here’s an old post that might give you something to think about:
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/14214945/#Comment_14214945

It is impossible to say what oil will cost in five years when you graduate. By definition, oil jobs are going to be more cyclical and when you are an unemployed petroleum engineer what fo you fall back on? mechanical, chemical or electrical engineering are all more stable

My neighbor is moving to China, I think he probably was told move or else. He is the only person earning money in his household so he has no choice. He does make good money though. So it’s boom and bust.

No doubt the oil and gas industry is cyclical, and you should do a lot of research before choosing petroleum as a major. With family members in the industry, there are a few differences from this current downturn as compared to the downturn in the 1980’s.

Many CEO’s of oil and gas companies do not want to make the mistake of losing out on talent as they did in the 80’s, so they are still going to recruit at the universities, especially the major companies. And when they are looking for top talent, they look to the students with petroleum engineering degrees first, for the most part, before mechanical, chemical etc. Currently, there are a large number of people on the verge of retirement who will take a lot of know-how with them and fewer mid-career employees to take their place. They are offering many incentives for older workers to stay. They do not want to repeat this gap in knowledge in the future.

Oil and gas companies are becoming technologically more efficient (compared to the past) with starting/slowing/stopping production. This helps stem the tide of mass layoffs. Many petroleum engineers who hold office jobs are moving to the field temporarily during the downturn. Many contract employees are the ones being laid off.

Energy companies are really victims of their own success today with the advent of hydraulic fracturing. They will have to learn to adapt in the new world they created.

Any niche industry requires lots of thought…it is probably a mistake to major in petroleum if you only go into it for the money.

Note that this isn’t exactly a good thing for those seeking work. More efficient processes, whether more efficient technology or more efficient operations, will almost by definition require fewer engineers to run it. Less layoffs means that the oil companies will learn how to keep their current workforce over a longer period of time, which almost by necessity means that they will hire less.

Good for business, bad for gainful employment in an oversaturated, niche field.

The companies can just contract out talent (1099s) vice hiring people fulltime. Many industries are going that route already.

Neodymium-^ True… And one of the challenges of the few universities that do offer the degree is to graduate an acceptable amount that industry needs. Texas A&M currently graduates about 160 petroleum engineers per year, for example, on a capacity control basis. This could very well change in the future. If energy companies decide they no longer need the specialized knowledge that the degree provides, it will disappear.

Neodymium: I think what you said is more or less true.

However, one thing to keep in mind is the ridiculous age gap in the industry. Going in the office most of the guys there are old enough to be my grandparents (or at least older aged parents). I think a good chunk of companies are going out of there way to ensure sustainability in their employee pool. For the immediate future to say 5 or so years out I think graduates should be fine. With entry level demand being flat to declining after that. They have been talking about the older generation retiring for years now, but it just hasn’t happened as fast as anticipated. A lot of them just can’t leave the job. Satisfying and challenging job. Oh and the money isn’t too bad either.

I don’t doubt that there is some truth to the entire “graying workforce” issue. But the problem is simply a supply vs. demand one. If it takes half the people to run the business as it did when those graying engineers started working, which is not at all an outlandish assumption since the last 50 years have seen leaps and bounds in computing, automation, etc., then there will only be one opening for every two retirees. For the large population of young engineering students who were convinced to go into PetE for the money, this means lower wages and fewer opportunities. When your industry is run by oligopolies and cartels, you really don’t have anywhere to go in case of trouble.

Agreed. On the issue of efficiency, I agree this industry has truly made strides. One big difference between the old school workforce and the work force of today is the shear man power still needed despite those advances. Companies working tight gas or oil plays drill way more wells than back in the day. I would suggest you need just as much people now as you have ever needed.

Also understand that if you’re interested in upstream oil and gas, you really don’t have to be a petroleum engineer, especially if you work for a major on big developments. I got my degree in chemical engineering and have been working in the upstream sector for a major. There isn’t a salary difference between us and the petroleum engineers and to be honest I see and work with a lot more non- petroleum engineers. Sure petroleum engineers will generally dominate the reservoir engineering field and you’ll see a lot of them in drilling (and maybe subsea eng)but in almost every other disciple in upstream they aren’t really there.