Entry-Level Oil & Gas/Petroleum Engineering

Career
Thu, 07 Jan 2010 10:44:00 +0000

Hi guys, i’m also planning to do my MSc in oil and gas engineering (RGU) or petroleum engineering (University of New South Wales). I am a mechanical engineering graduate.

What is the difference between oil&gas engineering and petroleum engineering?

It seems that a typical petroleum engineering program focus more on reservoir engineering area whereas oil and gas engineering at RGU “sacrifices” depth in reservoir engineering for more breadth on subsea / management.

I read that RGU has close ties with the oil and gas industry since Aberdeen is the energy hub of Europe. Furthermore, i assume that technology utilised in the North Sea is the most advanced because of the harsh climate and mature wells? Hence the materials covered in RGU’s course should be very updated and catered to prospective employers?

For UNSW, it is one of the top engineering schools in Australia with longest tradition of petroleum engineering too. As mentioned, it is a typical petroleum engineering program which gives you the chance to gain more depth in “traditional” fields such as reservoir, drilling and production engineering. Most of the major exploration and production activities are in the north west side though…(what an irony :P)

Now a crucial question is does this difference in curriculum matter a lot to prospective employers? More specifically, does this mean that if i take RGU’s course, it will be harder to enter oil operators like Exxon, Shell etc since strictly speaking i don’t have a Msc in petroleum engineering? (considering that it is already quite hard to enter these companies ^ ^; )

The reason why i am very interested in joining the oil operator side is because they have structured development plans for new employees (esp fresh grads), and as the people in charge of developing the oil fields you will gain a more complete graps of the oil and gas industry. (good job prospects in the oil and gas industry even if you choose to leave in future)

Any good advice will be most welcomed…