<p>I'm presently in FYE at Purdue and am really trying to decide which professional school I should choose. I've read quite a few threads on here about Petroleum engineering, and it seems to be an exciting lifestyle. My concern, however, is the likeliness of landing an upstream job with a CivilE, MechE, or ChemE degree. Purdue does not offer PetroE. I've seen some posts that say a MechE or CivilE is the best degree for the job, and others say that ChemE is the best. If I really want to do Petroleum engineering, what would you recommend I do?</p>
<p>well since chemecial engineering doesn’t have one thing to do with PE, I would say mechE. I would just get your bachelors and then get your masters in PE from one of the 14-15 school that offer a MS.</p>
<p>edit: sorry should of read your post more throughly. sorry, but if you plan on majoring in chemE and going into PE, your lifestyle with be boring as hell. I would personaly shoot myself. It would seem like a depressing jennifer aniston movie going into the factory every day to just get increased depressed thoughts and feelings. lol, but your 100% going to end up in some refinery. just major in pe, trust me, despite what many dumbasses say PE is safe. it’s here to stay for this century and will be in more demand than ever.</p>
<p>I like houston’s humor. He has really been making me laugh lately. He is right though. Chem E could land you a environmental engineering job, or a chemist job. But I don’t know where these people are coming from that Chem E has something to do with Pete E. Now, if a university offers a minor concentration or a petroleum recovery emphasis with a chem E then I can see where they are coming from. A general chemical engineering degree will however train you to become just that, a chemical engineer. They deal with material, bio, and environmental issues. I don’t recall chem E’s taking geology, lol. You can do what he has said, pursue a mech E or civ E degree and then get a master’s in petrol E. You see this happening now more than ever. My only concern is that people are going into it for all the wrong reasons. Remember, most graduates who enter PE wish they would have never done so. If you don’t believe that, you should look at some of the approval ratings for companies like ExxonMoblie, Chevron, or Schlumberger.</p>
<p>In my group of Production Engineers (a prototypical PetE job) we have 3x ChemE’s, 1x MechE, & 1x PetE. And my manager is a ME.</p>
<p>The problem, primarily, is screening. My company hires ME/CivE out of my undergraduate school. Some companies do not, I would effectively be cut off completely from those companies in the job search. In my opinion, it’s much harder to get into a company via internet recruiting.</p>
<p>Every company is different, some are very selective and want people who specialized in a certain area while others will take what they can get. I know large corps want you to already have the knowledge so you can get out there and get started. Only when they are in major need will they start selecting people regardless of the discipline. I just think a lot of these people who are considering Pete E are going in for every reason but the right reasons. If you aren’t good at what you do, you won’t get paid big money. Hence, if you are expecting large salaries out of college just because you are a Pete E you have another thing coming.</p>
<p>Extraction of oil and gas: PetE. Of course you’d study geology, drilling.
Distillation, refining of oil, natural gas, etc. into gasoline, biofuels, etc: ChemE
Right?</p>
I would guess that of people in traditionally “PetE” jobs at my company (production engineer, reservoir engineer, & drilling engineer) that about 40% do not have PetE degrees.</p>
<p>
I’d imagine “Process Engineer” type positions would be dominated by ChemEs, but other fields could certainly cross train into these.</p>
<p>The petroleum engineering itself is not that hard to grasp. It is not rocket science. And the amount of geology you have to know is not hard to quickly pick up on. You will find petrol engineering, drilling in particular is just about the most stressful job on the face of the earth. That is why you don’t see everyone and their momma going into petroleum engineering.</p>
<p>Anyone have advice on EE to PetE…I’m currently co-oping at a refinery, but I think I want to at least give upstream a shot. PetE Masters degree is probably a logical step…but what kind of classes should I take so I can be prepared for and accepted into a good program? I plan on taking a geology class or two before I graduate, any advice on any specific type science / engineering classes I should take? (Not PetE program at my school.)</p>
<p>Also, what might be some good groups to work with in the refinery…I’m currently work in the reliability department doing instruments and electrical, but I could probably move into project engineering at some point. Would project engineering experience as an EE be helpful?</p>
<p>I would say chemE. I’ve still in school for enve but I know a few chem eng ppl who have worked for big oil companies not in the enve division. I can’t say anything about mech cause i don’t know many mechs but I know 1 civil who worked in the Alberta Oils sands.</p>
<p>Starting salaries for ChemE downstream jobs will depend on the company…Exxon pays a lot more than some other companies, for example. Anyways, I’d say around $70,000 out of school would be on the low side. Annual bonus could probably add about $10k to that.</p>
<p>Exxon also has the lowest approval rating of all the oil companies. Their is too much in the way of politics working for a major corporation like that. Their reviews are horrible. The salaries for people graduating from lsu ranged from around 70k which is around average. 90k was the highest, and 50k the lowest. It all depends on the company and your job description. People with good internship experience and good grades got the better jobs. If you like chemistry go chemical. It is that simple.</p>
<p>Good luck finding at job or internship right now though. The outlook is pretty grim. Things need to pick up soon, or things are going to get ugly.</p>
<p>Hi, am new on this site i need some insights from current students majoring in petroleum engineering and also from students that already graduated. Am interested in Petroleum Engineering. Am currently attending a community college and am ready to transfer. I applied to University of Alaska Fairbanks, University of Houston, University of Wyoming, Montana Tech of The University of Montana, Texas Tech University. I also filled out an application to LSU but I never turned it in. I got accepted into University of Alaska Fairbanks as a Petroleum Engineering student and my other application to other schools are still pending.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>The problem is that I dont know which one of these schools to go to. I heard some negative things about University of Houston so am kind of loosing interest already. Please help me</p></li>
<li><p>How hard is the major I dont know what am getting myself into because am just an average student. Right now am taking calculus III, Chem II and Computer science C++. Am I gonna be ok if I transfer. How hard are the curriculums? How should I study? What to do to make it through. </p></li>
<li><p>I just want to know if i stand a chance? or will it chew me up and spit me out</p></li>
</ol>
<p>In my experience, MechEs and ChemEs can get hired within the oil and gas industry. ChemEs will most likely get sent downstream (refinery, pipelines, process engineers) but I have seen a handful make it reservoir engineering. MechEs will usually get sent to facilities engineering but can also be sent to D&C (Drilling and Completions) or Production Engineering. </p>
<p>Keep in mind that if you are a ChemE you need to make sure that the company you have HAS a refinery/downstream operations. You are much better off applying to CVX or XOM than BHP-Billiton or Devon. </p>
<p>If it makes you feel better, I know many Purdue graduates who work in the industry.
Forever LSU has a good point–DO NOT go into the oil industry just for the salaries. Like any job you will be absolutely miserable if you don’t give a damn about the industry and to be honest, you won’t rise up the ranks at all. I know CC has a lot of talk about the lucrative petroleum engineering salaries, hell I probably contributed to that but ONLY go into it if you have an interest.</p>
<p>Go do an internship and then make an informed decision.</p>
<p>I’m a Chemical Engineer, and I’ve been working in designing Natural gas distillation units for the past 5 years. Although I do not do a lot on the oil side, the owner of our company has a Chemical Engineering degree and does do the oil side of the business. Although, there are certain parts of the country where a petrol and/or chemical engineering degree are nearly useless. Right now where I live, the residents of almost every single home around me are involved in something related to a medical field, they are a cop or they own their own business. I am the only engineer in the entire neighborhood, and almost every chemical engineer in this town is a Plastics Engineer.</p>