<p>I am thinking of enrolling in Texas Tech for Petroleum engineering this fall. Is this a bad decision if petroleum production will end in the next 2 decades ? Or would it be wiser to go into chemical engineering ? If i do go into chemE, can i work as a drilling or reservoir engineer ?</p>
<p>lol ***, who told you petro production is ending in the next 2 decades, and if you go into chemE yes.</p>
<p>if petroleum production ends in the next two decades, Houston we have a BIG problem. Unless we harness the power of cold fusion of course!</p>
<p>also jk, if you go into ChemE you cannot work in drilling or reservoir, as chemEs almost never work upstream as drilling or reservoir engineers</p>
<p>I guess i have been reading too many forum threads lol, where they have been saying about production ending in 30-40 years. Thanks for all of your prompt reply.</p>
<p>there have been a few that worked for oil companies as chemical engineers, the transition is fine as long as you take the electives to do it</p>
<p>The hiring market is different in 2010 as opposed to even 2 years ago. Previously if you were a mechanical/chemical you could get an oil industry internship reasonably easily and then get a job (and it could even happen without an internship!). I’d say this occurred from 2003-2008.5. However, the amount of undergraduate petroleum engineering grads in the market ballooned as of recently. Operators can effectively fill every single internship opportunity with a Petroleum Engineering major. Truly, if companies hire otherwise it’s most likely due to regional issues or anomalies. For entry level reservoir engineers (less than 18 months experience) I don’t think I’ve seen a single one that wasn’t PetE.</p>
<p>More importantly, there is a big knowledge gap between PetE grads and ChemE/MechE grads relating to the core issues with producing oil (which eventually goes away as people become specialized within their respective capacity in the oil field).</p>
<p>i am currently enrolling in community college and would like to study petroleum engineering. i live in kansas. i would like to know if studying petroleum engineering at the university of kansas will enable get a good paying job immediately i graduate. what is the outlook of ku’s petroleum engineers. are well employed or are they overlooked when they apply for jobs.</p>