<p>Ok, you can believe what you want, My uncle is an excutive for chevron, and he said, that if you go out in the field for 1-2 years, you can be making anywhere from 14-15, who the hell are you anyway. And my friend dad is supervisor for all of Murphy Oil's gulf operations, and that 330,000 dollar figure is what he hired the guy on for. The guy worked for Chevron for 10 years. Is 32 years old. Who the hell are you? Also, my roomates dad, is a petroleum engineer, has been doing it for 8 years, directional drilling in texas, he is a drilling engineer, makes 350 a year and that is on land. He just bought his son a new Cadillac CTS. So ya'll can believe whoever the hell you want. It's all about who you know, lol.</p>
<p>Well, who the hell are you, Forever LSU?</p>
<p>The salary information on petroleum engineering salaries is quite clear and can be found at the BLS here. Note, this is not just a matter of mere one-off anecdotes, but overall data as collected by the Department of Labor. They are nowhere near what you are stating. </p>
<p>[url=<a href="http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos027.htm#earnings%5DEngineers%5B/url">http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos027.htm#earnings]Engineers[/url</a>]</p>
<p>The only 'problem' with the the BLS data is that it is a bit old (2 years). But I would argue that that actually makes the data even more relevant, for the price of oil 2 years ago is about equal to the price of oil today. </p>
<p>So, yes, Forever LSU, I agree that you can choose to believe whoever the hell you want. We can believe individual posters on this discussion board. Or we can believe compiled government data. You claim that somebody with just 1-2 years experience can make 15k a month, and that somebody with 10 years of experience can make 300k. Yet the fact is, according to the BLS data, the median petroleum engineer (with median levels of experience) is only making 98k a year. So if the payscales are as high as you claim, apparently they didn't get the memo.</p>
<p>sakky, despite his tone, I think he can be right with 330K. I think you might underestimate what people are making. A drill site manager who is working as an independent consultant can make ~300K+ (gross). I don't think the years of experience has as much play as you'd imagine. Chevron/Exxon hire guys directly out of school to do this job for ~90K-100K/year [company men get paid substantially less]. After they get 5-6 years of real experience (GOM, North Sea, onshore Gulf Coast) they can independently contract into one of the smaller operators making ~200K+/year. I was talking with our DSMs this morning about this very topic because I wanted to know the feasibility of the numbers that ForeverLSU was presenting.</p>
<p>His production engineering figures do seem quite off though.</p>
<p>I have never disputed that managers can make 330k, or even more per year. I'm simply talking about engineers. </p>
<p>More importantly, I think we need to present a balanced dataset. I don't dispute that some engineers do indeed make quite good money, if they can get jobs at high-paying firms. But not everybody can do that. According to the BLS, the average starting salary in 2007 for BS petroleum engineers is about 61k. Yes, some people will make more. But that also means that some people will make less. And remember, these are 2007 figures. Right now, the price of oil is roughly what it was during 2006 and early 2007. </p>
<p>[url=<a href="http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos027.htm#earnings%5DEngineers%5B/url">http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos027.htm#earnings]Engineers[/url</a>]</p>
<p>I've been studying that data since I was 6, get this genius, at 16 I was making 4 thousand a month working for an oil field service company. I made over 10,000 in 2 and a half months. Look that up on BLS, lol. I almost didn't get that job, said I was too young, but it is all about who your daddy is. My cousin is a diesel mechanic and works on supply boats that deliver to oil rigs in the gulf. He make 150,000 a year, go look that up, and he has a brand new Z71 4x4 Chevy Duramax Diesel with 40 inch tires to prove it. How about you look that up. I have friends that graduated from highschool with me, took the votech courses for electricians that started out making 70 thousand a year off shore. My good friends dad is not even an engineer, he's only a productionist, and makes 95,000 a year with a 95,000 dollar bounus every year, byahhhh. Yeah, how about you go look up the machinists salaries on there to, I bet the BLS is going to say they make about 50,000, 60,000 thousand a year, some even 40,000. But guess what, I have a cousin of mine that makes 110,000 a year, and he is only 24, cracka. I know kids that are making 24 dollars an hour welding at 18. My uncles wife graduated from UT in petroleum engineering 2 years ago and is making 130,000. People are making crazy money around here. Just with the knowledge I have now, I can go be a mud logger, and they get hired for $250 a day, all day long. My other cousin just finished his mechanical engineering degree from UL, and he's making 140,000 a year working for halliburton. His momma quit her job. Let me also inform you, they have people who didn't even go to a college that are petroleum and mechancial engineers. One of my co workers during the summer, his brother had a 2 year crash course with halliburton and they taught him to be a petroleum engineering. Louisiana people take care of their own. I know another engineer that works for a jack up boat company that brings home 600,000 because he's the only engineer the owner trusts. I have several job offers already. They will even pay off your school. We had one guy working with us, the oil company was giving him 5,000 a month while he was in college. Look that up.</p>
<p>Oh yeah, can I also mention that boat captains make alot too, My dad's good friend, worked on a shirmp boat for 15 years, now he works for the same jack up boat company the engineer works for, by the way, that engineer graduated from the University of Alabama, roll tide. The guy is making 117,000 a year, and one of my closest firends his dad makes 26,000 a month driving a tug boat. He buys a new corvette everytime the style changes, lol.</p>
<p>You think the price of oil, is stopping them, lol. The company I worked for, the owner, how is a billionaire, has his own banking chain in south louisiana, told me his company can run at 20 percent and he can still pay all of the benifits. We made 30 million in one quarter in a mechanical engineering shop with 2 machines in one quarter of the year. This is high dollar G3, 13 chrome, 23 chrome, T3, 29 chrome jobs, for Mitsui of japan. We worked on a project for BP's Thunder Horse rig, heres a picture.</p>
<p>It was a blow out drill collar used to blow out the formation, we made 40,000 in 15 mins, tell that to your momma.</p>
<p>It's not posting the last couple of numbers, lol, just look up BP's Thunderhorse rig, you'll find a picture of it somewhere.</p>
<p>And that shop is only the chrome section, that is only 1 of the 4 departments, we can make well heads that run 6 hours on the mill, and make 400,000 a pop all day long.</p>
<p>Blem your off to a good start. A&M huh, excellent school. If I lived in texas that is where I would go. I like the small town thing. Conservative school, I like that. A&M would be my pick. UT is a little too liberal for me, lol. A&M also has the largest amount of funding for engineering besides MIT. Excellent Petroleum engineering program, UT and A&M are always fighting for the top spot for petroleum engineering. At LSU it is really not that hard to get an internship, if you don't get one your first year, you should definately get one your second. This all depends if you keep your grades up, generally 3.0 is what they look for, not below that. LSU has 7 petroleum engineering alumni that are the heads of major oil field companies, which helps out our graduates. We have a different company that comes to have a meeting everyweek. Last week I think it was DOW, the week before that it was Diamond Drilling, that is who my dad worked for. I don't know about A&M's recruiting situation. Keep working at it. I took all honors calc and physics and I had a smooth transition. I also took an environmental science. Really helped out with geology. Mostly the alot of petroleum engineering students's get internship's with the companies there parents work for. I know my dad didn't want me working for him, because he didn't want me to screw up. But his advisor told him I would do fine. It's nice to learn the business. I love it. I hope you will too. Just relax, and don't let the paper due dates and hmwk get the best of you. I see alot of people that wash out because they are not focused. Word of advice. It is all about time management. You learn how to do things ahead of time, and you will do fine. Do your best in every class, study and make the most of it. Don't look at a class as something you have to get through, look at it as something you have to learn. Remember, your degree is only the beginning. You really become a petroleum engineer when you get out in the field.</p>
<p>the only clowns in petroleum engineering that are going to make 60 something a year, are the ones that don't want to leave the office and go out in the field. They want a 9-5 engineering job like engineers that work at a plant. My uncle said so himself. You want to stay in an office, don't plan on moving up at all. You don't tell us no, lol.</p>
<p>Yeah, I also agree with montegut, you generally want to take the classes you test out of. Like physics especially. Alot, of those AP programs are a walk in the park. Generally they will cover whatever you know in about a week in college, lol. Or maybe even the first day, all depends who's teaching. I know at LSU, they don't recommend anyone testing out of the first physics class, because the ones who have went straight on to the second one, the results haven't been good. They just pile so much information on you, it is just best that you take them to build the proper foundation, it is not like it is going to hurt.</p>
<p>Production engineers will more than likely make in the 100,000 to 150,000 range. I know they are not making less than that. I clarified this with my uncle and he said it depends on the working conditions. Of course, if your doing production in alaska, your going to be getting paid a hell of alot more. Now, you do get compensation bonuses which make up the difference. But when I'm stating these 300,000+ dollar figures, those are directional drilling engineering salaries. My roomates dad makes 350,000 a year depending on how much he works. This is an on land job. He is just a petroleum engineer. Has been doing this job for 8 years. Worked in a plant before that. He was oringinally a mechanical engineer and switched over to petroleum. Reason is really not about oil price, it is more about demand. what the 80's and 90's created was a gap in petroleum engineering graduates. You had petroluem schools that were nearly ghost towns. So you have this gap between the people who are in there late 40's, 50's, and there is hardly anyone after them. We have this huge gap in those that are qualified to do petroleum engineering. Companies are trying to invest in there future and they are throwing crazy salaries around at younger graduates. This is also to stimulate those majoring in petroleum engineer. The problem is, american born engineers are not that abundant, most of our engineering classes are filled will people from other countries. Most of these graduates are moving back to there homelands. Because, honestly, there is better opportunity. They want to go back and build up there countries. America is no longer the only big player in the game. Yet some still fail to realize that. the majority of this generation is undisciplined. I was talking to a guy from egypt the other day, about to finish up his Ph.D in electrical engineering. He has memorized the entire Quran Line for line and can recite it. He said he is literally disgusted with the way americans act. He was like americans have no sense of honor or respect. And I told him I agreed. lol. I mean this guys devote everything they have to what they are learning. I thought I knew how to study until I met this guy, lol. Within the next 20 years your going to see a drastic change in the american economy. We won't have the tech background to remain above everyone else. We just aren't graduating enough, at 5 percent, when china has 35 to 45 percent of there college classes made up of engieering students. We already have a technology trade deficit of over 90 billion. I really don't know what it will take to wake this country up.</p>
<p>Forever LSU, if you claim to have been studying the data since you were 6, then I think it would be quite easy for you to present some of it here. Why not? I have presented data.</p>
<p>It doesn't have to necessarily be government-compiled statistics. Present a job spec where somebody is offering to pay the scales that you are discussing. Barring that, present some trade industry periodicals that validate the pay scales that you are stating. Cite from The Petroleum Economist. Cite from Oil and Gas Journal. Cite from Petroleum Intelligence Weekly. Heck, cite a study from the SPE (which would clearly have every reason to cite high salary figures.) But cite something. </p>
<p>Just think of yourself as a novice reader to this site. There is somebody like you that is presenting mere anecdotes, but with no data to back it up, despite the fact that you claim to have the data. Then you have posters such as myself who are presenting actual data. Be perfectly honest with yourself - who is more believable? I don't think salary data is that hard to find.</p>
<p>All of those stats are based on salaries. The only petroleum engineers who are on salaries are production. A drilling or reservoir engineering would be an idiot to agree to a salary. Reservoir and Drilling Engineers get paid by the hour, or the day. They have drilling engineers who get paid 1500 a day, who work 21 and 14. That rake in around 330,000 a year. I'll be starting out at around 700 a day just for your information. What you also didn't take into account is that all of those surveys are based on a 40 hour week basis. Engineers on a drilling rig will pull 48 hour non stop shifts at one time, or they can do 20 hour shifts with 4 hours of sleep each night. As long as that bit is turning they need to be up monitoring it. Now take this into account, on a rig they will pull 90-100+ hours a week. Hence, you will make 50-60 plus hours over time, which is regular time plus a half. Now, lets apply this method to BLS. The national mean wage for a petroleum engineer is 54.75 an hour, so on the rig you'll make your 40 hours in the first 2 days, no joke. So, what does that add up to, $2190. Now once you hit over 40 over time kicks in which is roughly 82.13 an hour. Now you'll conservatively make 50 hours, that is being conservative. Most work over 100 hours a week on the rig. So you figure that for 50 hours and that adds up to 4206.25. You add that with the regular hours and you get 6296.25. Now if your schedule call for 21 and 14 you will make 18888.75 in 3 weeks offshore. Now that is conservative. Now consider that you get 2 weeks off after every 3 weeks on. In one year you can get 10 shifts in like that. bringging the grand total to 188,887.5. Now, you also get inncentive bounuses. Now you figure 700 a day for a newbie on a 21 and 14 shift. 14700 roughly for 3 weeks, and roughly around 150,000. That is how an entry level engineer can make 150 a year, you only work 10 to 11 times a year, and get off around 140 days out of the year. Listen go learn how the industry works and read a book or something. Before you start telling a person who family has been in only for 5 generations how it is done. Your the novice, not me genius. That is how it works. My dad did drilling for 10 years, and would have over 100 plus hours in one week easy. He would pull 16 hours, lay down, and after 30 mins go pull another 12 before he could actually get a decent amount of sleep sometimes. You not only insult my family, but you also insult every family who has a loved one that works hard to provide the energy this country desperately needs. You disgust me.</p>
<p>My father worked for Diamond Offshore. They were called Diamond M drilling back in the day.</p>
<p>Forever LSU is right, I went to a PE career fair last night and the guys said the same thing. One question Forever LSU, how are the living conditions on the rig? you said it was like living in a five star hotel and that the cooks can make you anything...is that really true?</p>
<p>haha, yes, thank you blem for your support. Yes, pretty much that is the way it is. You'll usually have large breakfasts with pancakes, sausage, new orleans banyas, bacon, eggs. All the good stuff. Most of the cooks cajun style, spicy, flavorful and amazing. I'm speaking from the louisiana point of view. I mean they cook gumbos, stews, steak. It's like ordering from a menu. What is also great blem, is when you travel the company you work for pays for everything. They have some really big companies that have tabs of several hundred thousand dollars or more at hotels and resorts. You have guys ordering all kinds of stuff. lol. When my dad would travel back and forth from the houston, gavelston area. The would fly in on the chopper and stay all over the place. They would order large steaks and sea food platters, basically they would eat themselves unconcious, lol. You have some pretty awesome chopper rides too if you plan on working off shore. I dad had to fly in early one time and they called in a 2 seat chopper like on Magnum PI. When he got in, the chopper pilot said, you ready to have some fun. My dad was like I guess so. The chopper picked up off of the landing pad and did a front in dive straight down off of the rig, lol. My dad said that was the craziest thing he ever experienced. The guy pulled up and they were 130 at about 15ft off of the water, lol. My dad said it was the most fun he ever had. The pilot was flying real low over the marsh, and it was nice to view the scenery. He also talks about flying in the big sikorskys. He said they were booking it at around 180 over the clouds when it was raining. He said that was pretty cool to. It is a great career. </p>
<p>Read this article, it describle is pretty well.</p>
<p>I</a> take a vacation on a drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico. - By Emily Yoffe - Slate Magazine</p>
<p>Vacationing</a> on an Offshore Drilling Rig</p>
<p>This link has a little slide show, 13 pics. It is actually a rig owned by the same company my dad worked for, Diamond Offshore.</p>