Career Profile: Petroleum Engineers

Salary and Outlook

According to the US Department of Labor, there are 22,800 people employed as petroleum engineers in the United States. The median annual salary is $130,850. Entry level employees earn approximately $78,390 per year and senior employees earn approximately $208,000 (or more) per year.

Estimates do not include other potential benefits such as health insurance, overtime, or retirement benefits that may be offered by employers.

Job Duties

• Specify and supervise well modification and stimulation programs to maximize oil and gas recovery.
• Monitor production rates, and plan rework processes to improve production.
• Maintain records of drilling and production operations.
• Analyze data to recommend placement of wells and supplementary processes to enhance production.
• Assist engineering and other personnel to solve operating problems.
• Direct and monitor the completion and evaluation of wells, well testing, or well surveys.
• Develop plans for oil and gas field drilling, and for product recovery and treatment.
• Assess costs and estimate the production capabilities and economic value of oil and gas wells, to evaluate the economic viability of potential drilling sites.
• Confer with scientific, engineering, and technical personnel to resolve design, research, and testing problems.
• Interpret drilling and testing information for personnel.
• Coordinate activities of workers engaged in research, planning, and development.
• Write technical reports for engineering and management personnel.
• Evaluate findings to develop, design, or test equipment or processes.
• Test machinery and equipment to ensure that it is safe and conforms to performance specifications.
• Assign work to staff to obtain maximum utilization of personnel.
• Simulate reservoir performance for different recovery techniques, using computer models.
• Design and implement environmental controls on oil and gas operations.
• Supervise the removal of drilling equipment, the removal of any waste, and the safe return of land to structural stability when wells or pockets are exhausted.
• Inspect oil and gas wells to determine that installations are completed.
• Coordinate the installation, maintenance, and operation of mining and oil field equipment.
• Take samples to assess the amount and quality of oil, the depth at which resources lie, and the equipment needed to properly extract them.
• Design or modify mining and oil field machinery and tools, applying engineering principles.
• Conduct engineering research experiments to improve or modify mining and oil machinery and operations.

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