Petroleum Engineering - An Introduction

Petroleum Engineering is a technical field that deals with exploration of crude oil and natural gas reserves. It is a very diverse field and also very complicated and is hence divided into several sub branches like geological, reservoir drilling (requires a knowledge of measurement while drilling and rig floor display), production as well as construction engineering. The field initially begins with locating mines and determining the site and excavating technique for optimum recovery. For this the Petroleum engineering department works closely with geologists as well as geo physicists for complete evaluation of and completion of the extraction process.

As mentioned there are several specialization fields in Petroleum Engineering hence each department has its specifications. The reservoir engineers along with petro physicists and geological engineers determine the kind of drilling action that needs to be employed. Also they assess the production rate which includes the barrels or the cubic feet of gas that can be excavated in a day. Another important work of this department of petroleum engineering is to estimate the production that can be anticipated form the reservoir.

Next is the job of the drilling engineers who have the responsibility of efficient penetration for maximum recovery of oil and natural gas. A steel casing is generally cemented above the reservoir. They also take care of the fluid that is continuously circulated through the drill pipe. The production engineer solves query of other departments. Their job is to execute plans for completion of the well and optimum extraction of oil and natural gas. They take care of the perforation that is done to the casing and that goes inside the reservoir, along with an appropriate pumping technique and storage facility. The petroleum engineers also need to work along with civil engineers for construction of offshore platforms. Some of the major oil reservoirs of the world are stationed in the middle of the sea and for that a very sturdy platform needs to be made for proper extraction.

Since oil is such a scarce naturally existing commodity and its demand is too high and this leads to regular research for discovering new oil fields and well. Petroleum engineers along with research teams take care of this research work as well. Advanced computing is extensively used in petroleum engineering; graphics are used for determining the exploration. Geological computing helps in determining cross section balancing, installation and modeling. A graphical model of excavation is generated with the help geophysical computing.

Petroleum engineering is a complicated technical field and it's reported to be the highest paid engineering field. The two main areas of this engineering field are oil exploration and processing and secondly refining and distribution. Oil which is the most important economic commodity in today's world and any change in oil price is reflected in almost all the auxiliary fields. After excavation oil is collected in containers where refining takes place, and from there it's transported through pipelines to large vessel chips and shipped to different parts of the world. Each time the processed oil enters and leaves the pipeline it is checked and if there is a problem in the result it is sent back to the reservoir.