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03-29-2008, 08:44 PM
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#1 | | Junior Member
Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Cincinnati, OH Gender: Male
Threads: 43
Posts: 168
| Petroleum Engineering helpp
If you school does not offer petroleum engineering as a degree, what major can you acquire that would substitute for it. | 
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03-29-2008, 08:53 PM
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#2 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Los Angeles Gender: Male
Threads: 20
Posts: 3,137
| Petro Eng is really specialized actually. Its main focus is recovering oil from ground wells.
Three possibilities:
1. Geology, believe it or not. Oil companies hire geologists to analyze and locate the oil. Pay is phenomenal currently...however, who knows if the good times will continue to last. Geology will allow you to work in the currently more lucrative "upstream" divisions of oil companies...Upstream refers to production of the raw oil.
2. Chemical engineering. However, chemical engineering is mainly focused on the "downstream" portions of the oil business...i.e. oil refining.
3. Mechanical engineering. Mechanical engineers are the jacks-of-all-trades. You can be hired by oil companies to work on all equipment related problems/issues...drilling equipment, especially.
All three of these majors are in high demand from the oil industry. | |
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03-29-2008, 09:10 PM
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#3 | | Junior Member
Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Cincinnati, OH Gender: Male
Threads: 43
Posts: 168
| And which one pays more, upstream or downstream.
And how tough is it to get these jobs. | |
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03-29-2008, 09:16 PM
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#4 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Los Angeles Gender: Male
Threads: 20
Posts: 3,137
| Right now, upstream because oil is over $100/bbl and that is the breadwinner division of the oil industry.
Honestly though, no one knows how long high oil prices will last.
If I were you, and you liked engineering, I'd choose mechanical or chemical engineering. They'll offer you more broad opportunities if the good times in the oil industry ends.
The oil industry is facing a severe shortage of engineers...a lot of experienced personnel is retiring. It's a new golden age for new engineers. | |
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03-29-2008, 09:26 PM
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#5 | | New Member
Join Date: Jan 2008 Gender: Female
Threads: 2
Posts: 27
| I think to get those jobs, you have to be in a state that does lots of oil digging. Louisiana is a good state for petroleum engineering, but then you have to work in the countryside most of the time. | |
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03-31-2008, 09:38 PM
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#6 | | Junior Member
Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: BX,NY Gender: Male
Threads: 8
Posts: 54
| A lot of people from Stanford and some from Princeton/Cornell work/used to work in Saudi Aramco, so I doubt you have to be in a state that does lots of oil digging. | |
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03-31-2008, 11:34 PM
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#7 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: SoCal.
Threads: 4
Posts: 1,835
| Quote:
Petro Eng is really specialized actually. Its main focus is recovering oil from ground wells.
Three possibilities:
1. Geology, believe it or not. Oil companies hire geologists to analyze and locate the oil. Pay is phenomenal currently...however, who knows if the good times will continue to last. Geology will allow you to work in the currently more lucrative "upstream" divisions of oil companies...Upstream refers to production of the raw oil.
2. Chemical engineering. However, chemical engineering is mainly focused on the "downstream" portions of the oil business...i.e. oil refining.
3. Mechanical engineering. Mechanical engineers are the jacks-of-all-trades. You can be hired by oil companies to work on all equipment related problems/issues...drilling equipment, especially.
All three of these majors are in high demand from the oil industry.
| Quoted for truth. I work upstream as an ME. I'm not sure I've seen of any technical majors other than PetE/ChemE/ME/Geology at my current company. | |
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04-01-2008, 06:52 PM
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#8 | | Junior Member
Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: NY
Threads: 44
Posts: 231
| For Geology you need at least a masters and one from a TX college where they recruit alot helps. | |
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04-03-2008, 07:47 PM
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#9 | | New Member
Join Date: May 2007
Threads: 1
Posts: 21
| chemical eng... or geology, | |
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