CKQ Examines College Majors: Petroleum Engineering

Each newsletter will provide readers with insight into a specific major that might pique your interest. This segment is all about introducing students to majors (and possibly careers) they may have never considered before. This time around, we will provide information on the Petroleum Engineering major. Special thanks to Collegeboard.org for some information found in this article.

Many of us think this is a dying industry; far from it. The United States is the number one producer of petroleum in the world at present and refined oil is still used in nearly every country in the world, whether it should be or not is not part of this discussion. Technological breakthroughs in the past decade are changing the industry and allowing for what was once unusable or unreachable oil deposits to be tapped. Training a new crop of engineers who can understand and access this new information and technology is an important opportunity that STEM kids should be thinking about. CONTINUE… You might consider this major if you are good at: leadership; math; quantitative analysis; spacial thinking/analysis; teamwork… or have… initiative; manual dexterity; patience; verbal skills and writing skills.

As you can imagine, Petroleum Engineers possess significant knowledge in a myriad of fields, including: physics, chemistry, engineering, math, and geology. The work is challenging, sometimes dangerous, and is done all over the world, on land and at sea.

Typical courses in this major include: Physical Geology, Structural Geology, Engineering Mechanics, Fluid Mechanics, Thermodynamics, Petrology, Environmental Reclamation, Well Systems, Resource Economics, Reservoir Engineering, Advanced Algebra and Advanced Calculus.

What the study of this major is like: This is, more times than not, a hands-on industry. Plan on getting’ dirty! That said, like many areas of engineering, it is also highly technical in nature. As stated earlier in this article, the technology change in this field has been a tectonic shift (pun intended) and students need to not just understand terrain and how to find and access oil and gas through traditional methods, but emerging technologies as well.

Students tend to identify with the outdoors and are dedicated enough to tackle challenging and diverse courses, many times, for five years to earn a BS degree. As oil and gas regions are localized in the United States, the best programs are as well. Only 15 or so states even offer a petroleum engineering degree at one of their state’s colleges or universities. Not surprisingly, most of these states reside in the Midwest (Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado, Louisiana).

Most students, to conclude their degree, will participate in a capstone seminar project, as this is an experience-driven field.

In terms of employment, the field has routinely been one of the two highest paying majors out of college in the United States and abroad. Salaries for petroleum engineers usually start in the high five figures and averages about $110,000, tops on the current payscale.com list of highest paying majors.

While demand for petroleum engineers is thought to diminish over the next 100 years, as the globe moves towards renewable energy sources for much of their transportation and heating needs, that leaves at least two or three generations of workers to continue the hunt and procurement for natural gas and oil products all over the globe.

Top programs in this field currently include: University of Texas – Austin; Texas A&M University, Colorado School of Mines, University of Oklahoma, University of Tulsa, LSU, Penn State University – University Park, and Texas Tech University.

For more information on this field, please visit:

https://www.environmentalscience.org/career/petroleum-engineer