Why Be A Petroleum Engineer?

Why study petroleum engineering?

As a petroleum engineer you will be responsible for the identification and production of hydrocarbons, requiring a range of skills in engineering and geoscience disciplines. You may work on a drilling rig, as part of a multi-disciplinary team for an energy company or as one of a diverse range of service contractors who support the extraction of hydrocarbons.

This is an exciting and technically challenging program; a program that will equip you for a range of careers in the petroleum industry; a program that is as exciting as the work it takes to create a Laversab Rig Floor Computer or a Laversab Driller’s Display Unit. Ongoing growth in worldwide energy consumption means demand for petroleum engineers is high. Oil companies and service providers are actively recruiting graduates in this area, which remains buoyant despite the economic climate.

The journey it takes to become a petroleum engineer is open and welcoming, with low competition: most universities have great student ratios and an excellent reputation for high quality research. The discipline as a whole has exceptional links with the best part of the economy, which takes success to a whole different and higher plane. Major oil and gas companies are actively recruiting students from our all over the world, as well as offering internships and sponsorship for post-graduate study to exceptional students. Folks can move to the Middle East, get paid great money, with relatively low stress compared to other engineering jobs.

Petroleum Engineering is an interdisciplinary subject, so you will study a broad range of subjects including geology, fluid mechanics, thermodynamics, chemistry and mathematics. You will be taught how hydrocarbon is generated, stored and produced in the subsurface. On completion of the programme you will understand the life-cycle development of oil and gas fields, and how petroleum engineers operate them effectively.

Whatever career path you choose, our experts at Laversab will equip you with a range of technical and transferrable skills and knowledge.

As well as lectures, you will learn through:

• Problem-solving exercises that are based around real-world data and problems.
• Laboratory classes using subsurface rock and fluid data.
• Construction and flow simulation of geocellular models using industry-standard software (provided by Schlumberger).
• Fieldwork, to examine the geological heterogeneity encountered in hydrocarbon reservoirs.

Petroleum engineers are involved in the discovery, recovery and maintenance of the world’s oil and gas supplies. The activities are important because safe, affordable and clean energy is a requirement for future generations.

As a result the necessity for improved production from mature fields, alongside exploration for hydrocarbon reserves in increasingly challenging environments means that petroleum engineers with specific skills sets are in great demand across the petroleum industry.

Job opportunities for petroleum engineers are very diverse and occur along the entire value chain of hydrocarbon exploration and production. You can get your hands dirty on a drill rig, perform sophisticated analyses in the laboratory, or work with advanced computer software to create reservoir models. As a petroleum engineer you could work out in the field and travel the globe - or enjoy the relative comfort of an office job.