April 2008

Monday, April 28, 2008

Learn Offshore Drilling

The following are a series of lectures/presentations discussing the various concepts of off-shore drilling. Follow the links to download the lecture notes.

Reservoir Fluid properties is a subject that forms the basis of reservoir engineering. It is therefore an essential course in all petroleum engineering degrees. Over here i have posted a set of online lectures related to this course. You can download the pdf files for future reference.

Lecture 1 - Organic Chemistry [HTML] [PDF]
Lecture 2 - Alkanes [HTML] [PDF]
Lecture 3 - Alkenes [HTML] [PDF]
Lecture 4 - Aromatics[HTML] [PDF]
Lecture 5 - Pure Substances[HTML] [PDF]
Lectures 6&7 - Two and Three Component Mixtures[HTML] [PDF]
Lecture 8 - Reservoir Fluids[HTML] [PDF]
Lectures 9&10 - Ideal and Real Gas[HTML] [PDF]
Lecture 11 - Real Gases - SPE Paper 26668 [HTML] [PDF]
Gas Properties in Reservoir Engineering[HTML] [PDF]
Lectures 12&13 - Standard Conditions[HTML] [PDF]
Lecture 14 - Wet Gases[HTML] [PDF]
Lecture 15 - Black Oil Definitions[HTML] [PDF]
Lecture 16 - Field Data[HTML] [PDF]
Lecture 17 - Reservoir Fluid Studies[HTML] [PDF]
Lectures 18&19 - Properties of Black Oils and Reservoir Fluid Studies Report[HTML] [PDF]
Lecture 20 - Properties of Black Oil Correlations[HTML] [PDF]
Lectures 21 & 22 - Black Oils Correlations[HTML] [PDF]
Lectures 23 & 24 - Consolidate Oil Reservoir Density Calculations and Oil Viscosity[HTML] [PDF]
Lecture 25 - VLE [HTML] [PDF]
Lecture 26 - Non-Ideal VLE [HTML] [PDF]
Lecture 28 - Surface Separators [HTML] [PDF]
Lecture 29 - Equilibrium Ratio Correlations (K-values) [HTML] [PDF]
Lectures 30-31 - Properties of Oilfield Waters [HTML] [PDF]
Lectures 32-33 - Gas Hydrates [HTML] [PDF]
Lecture 34-35 - Equations of State[HTML] [PDF]

Saturday, April 26, 2008

Casing Drilling

What is casing drilling?

Casing Drilling, an innovative process for simultaneously drilling and casing a well, is emerging as viable technology for the twenty-first century. The concept builds upon experience gained drilling liners to bottom in troublesome holes. With the advent of dependable top drive systems, wireline retrievable bottom hole assemblies, PDC bits, and high torque connections, it is possible to simultaneously drill and case a complete well using casing as the drill-string.

Development of casing drilling technology

Drilling with casing has proven to be an effective method of reducing drilling costs and solving drilling problems. Most of the current casing drilling activity is focused on drilling vertical wells, but interest in directional wells is increasing as the benefits of casing drilling in straight holes are
demonstrated. A directional casing drilling system has been run sufficiently to prove that directional drilling with casing can be practical with casing sizes from 5-1/2” to 13-3/8”. The system uses a wireline retrievable directional drilling assembly, positioned in the lower end of the casing, to replace the conventional directional tools used when drilling with drill pipe. These tools have been used to drill to inclinations greater than 90 degrees and have been retrieved and re-run at inclinations ranging from vertical to horizontal. The directional casing drilling system can be used for a broad range of directional applications to capture the proven advantages of casing drilling that have been demonstrated for vertical wells.

Note: Casing Drilling is a trademark of Tesco Corp

From the Tesco Corp Website

The CASING DRILLING® process uses standard oilfield casing to drill the well and then leaves it in place to case the well. This process makes it possible to speed up drilling 20 to 30 percent or more, by eliminating drill-string tripping and the problems associated with it. Drill bits and other downhole tools are lowered and retrieved via wireline inside the casing and latched to the bottom-most joint of casing. This safer and more efficient process will change forever how wells are drilled. Almost any drilling rig can be adapted to use TESCO's CASING DRILLING® technology. Rigs with existing top drive systems are readily converted, either permanently or temporarily, by installing a wireline system for running and retrieving the drilling tools. Portable TESCO Top Drive Drilling Systems can be easily installed on rigs without top drives. Converted rigs lose none of their conventional capabilities.

CASING DRILLING® delivers all of the functionality of conventional drillpipe drilling, including:

Vertical or directional;
Steerable motor assemblies
Rotary steerable systems;
Logging while drilling;
Coring;
Retrievable or non-retrievable systems.

Benefits of the CASING DRILLING® Process

For operators, CASING DRILLING®:

Reduces drilling time and lowers costs
Improves wellsite safety and well control
Reduces unscheduled events
Provides a quicker return on investment
Lessens environmental impact

For drilling contractors, CASING DRILLING®:

Eliminates the need for drillpipe and drill collars
Eliminates the need for double and triple masts and heavy setback areas
Makes rig moves easier
Reduces labour requirements
Reduces fuel consumption and wear on equipment
Lessens the chance of pipe-handling incidents
Lowers capital requirements

For service companies, CASING DRILLING®:

Opens up a new service market
Provides an additional application for existing tools and an opportunity to develop new tools to gain market share
Extends tool life by protecting tools during running and retrieval
Reduces time and risk in recovering from down-hole tool failure

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Compressed Natural Gas

CNG is often confused with LNG. While both are stored forms of natural gas, the key difference is that CNG is in compressed form, while LNG is in liquefied form. CNG has a lower cost of production and storage compared to LNG as it does not require an expensive cooling process and cryogenic tanks. CNG requires a much larger volume to store the same mass of natural gas and the use of high pressures.

CNG is also often confused with LPG, which is a compressed blend of propane (C3H8) and butane (C4H10). Following are the main advantages of Compressed Natural Gas:

The Environmentally Clean Advantage

Compressed natural gas is the cleanest burning fuel operating today. This means less vehicle maintenance and longer engine life.
CNG vehicles produce the fewest emissions of any motor fuel.
Dedicated Natural Gas Vehicles (NGV) have little or no emissions during fueling. In gasoline vehicles, fueling emissions account for at least 50% of a vehicle's total hydrocarbon emissions.
CNG produces significantly less pollutants than gasoline.
Tailpipe emissions from gasoline operated cars release carbon dioxide, which contributes to global warming. This is greatly reduced with natural gas.

The Maintenance Advantage

Some fleet operators have reduced maintenance costs by as much as 40% by converting their vehicles to CNG.
Intervals between tune-ups for natural gas vehicles are extended 30,000 to 50,000 miles.
Intervals between oil changes for natural gas vehicles are dramatically extended--anywhere from 10,000 to 25,000 additional miles depending on how the vehicle is used.
Natural gas does not react to metals the way gasoline does, so pipes and mufflers last much longer.

The Performance Advantage

Natural gas gives the same mileage as gasoline in a converted vehicle.
Dedicated CNG engines are superior in performance to gasoline engines.
CNG has an octane rating of 130 and has a slight efficiency advantage over gasoline.
Because CNG is already in a gaseous state, NGV's have superior starting and drivability, even under severe hot and cold weather conditions.
NGV's experience less knocking and no vapor locking.

The CNG Cost Advantage
Natural gas is cheaper per equivalent gallon than gasoline (an average of 15% to 50% less than gasoline).

The Safety Advantage
Surveys indicate that NGV's are as safe or safer than those powered by other fuels. A 1992 AGA survey of more than 8,000 vehicles found that with more than 278 million miles traveled, NGV injury rates per vehicle mile traveled were 34% lower than the rate for gasoline vehicles. There were no fatalities reported--even though these vehicles were involved in over 1,800 collisions.

CNG Conversions
Converting a gasoline-powered car to CNG requires only minor engine modifications. To learn more about converting your car, please contact a certified CNG conversion technician.

Ethanol Fuel

What is ethanol?
Ethanol is made by fermenting and then distilling starch and sugar crops -- maize, sorghum, potatoes, wheat, sugar-cane, even cornstalks, fruit and vegetable waste.

The benefits
Ethanol is a much cleaner fuel than petrol (gasoline):

It is a renewable fuel made from plants
It is not a fossil-fuel: manufacturing it and burning it does not increase the greenhouse effect
It provides high octane at low cost as an alternative to harmful fuel additives
Ethanol blends can be used in all petrol engines without modifications
Ethanol is biodegradable without harmful effects on the environment
It significantly reduces harmful exhaust emissions
Ethanol's high oxygen content reduces carbon monoxide levels more than any other oxygenate: by 25-30%, according to the US EPA
Ethanol blends dramatically reduce emissions of hydrocarbons, a major contributor to the depletion of the ozone layer
High-level ethanol blends reduce nitrogen oxide emissions by up to 20%
Ethanol can reduce net carbon dioxide emissions by up to 100% on a full life-cycle basis
High-level ethanol blends can reduce emissions of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) by 30% or more (VOCs are major sources of ground-level ozone formation)
As an octane enhancer, ethanol can cut emissions of cancer-causing benzene and butadiene by more than 50%
Sulphur dioxide and Particulate Matter (PM) emissions are significantly decreased with ethanol.

Backyard ethanol
As with biodiesel, you don't have to be a corporation to make ethanol -- you can make fuel alcohol in your backyard, and many people are doing just that, and running their vehicles on clean-burning alcohol instead of gasoline, all around the world.

Ethanol is greener than gasoline
Ethanol is a very high octane fuel, replacing lead as an octane enhancer in gasoline. Fuels that burn too quickly make the engine "knock". The higher the octane rating, the slower the fuel burns, and the less likely the engine will knock. When ethanol is blended with gasoline, the octane rating of the petrol goes up by three full points, without using harmful additives. Adding ethanol to gasoline "oxygenates" the fuel, adding oxygen to the fuel mixture so that it burns more completely and reduces polluting emissions such as carbon monoxide. Ethanol and ETBE oxygenator, made from ethanol, are much safer than the toxic and polluting MTBE fossil-fuel-derived oxygenator used by oil companies.

Friday, April 18, 2008

SPE textbook series

The textbook series of the Society of Petroleum Engineers was established in 1972. The series is intended to ensure availability of high quality textbooks for use in undergraduate courses in areas clearly identified as being within the petroleum engineering field. The work is directed by the Society's textbook committee, through members designated as textbook editors. The series contains a set of 11 textbooks covering the most important aspects of the petroleum industry. For more information visit the SPE book store.

Petroleum Engineer's Job Description

This video is a provides a comprehensive overview of the petroleum engineering industry and the job of a petroleum engineer. A must watch video for all those who are interested in doing a major in petroleum engineering.

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Seismic Exploration for Oil - generating a seismic wave

Seismic surveys are one of the most important methods for oil exploration. During a seismic survey, a sound signal is generated. This sound travels in the subsurface of the earth and is reflected back to the surface. The receivers on the ground record this signal. This video shows one method of generating a seismic signal, using a thumper.

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

The Peak Oil

Peak oil is the point in time when the maximum rate of global petroleum production is reached, after which the rate of production enters its terminal decline. If global consumption is not mitigated before the peak, an energy crisis may develop because the availability of conventional oil will drop and prices will rise, perhaps dramatically. M. King Hubbert first used the theory in 1956 to accurately predict that United States oil production would peak between 1965 and 1970. His model, now called Hubbert peak theory, has since been used to predict the peak petroleum production of many other countries, and has also proved useful in other limited-resource production-domains. According to the Hubbert model, the production rate of a limited resource will follow a roughly symmetrical bell-shaped curve based on the limits of exploitability and market pressures.

Timing of peak oil

M. King Hubbert initially predicted in 1974 that peak oil would occur in 1995 "if current trends continue". However, in the late 1970s and early 1980s, global oil consumption actually dropped (due to the shift to energy-efficient cars, the shift to electricity and natural gas for heating, and other factors), then rebounded to a lower level of growth in the mid 1980s. Thus oil production did not peak in 1995, and has climbed to more than double the rate initially projected. This underscores the fact that the only reliable way to identify the timing of peak oil will be in retrospect. However, predictions have been refined through the years as up-to-date information becomes more readily available, such as new reserve growth data. Predictions of the timing of peak oil include the possibilities that it has recently occurred, that it will occur shortly, that a plateau of oil production will sustain supply for up to 100 years, or that oil production will not peak.

The demand side of Peak oil is concerned with the consumption over time, and the growth of this demand. World crude oil demand has grown at around 2 percent in recent years. Demand growth is highest in the developing world. World demand for oil is set to increase 37% by 2030, according to the US-based Energy Information Administration's (EIA) annual report. Demand will hit 118 million barrels per day (bpd) from today's existing 86 million barrels, driven in large part by the transportation sector. As countries develop, industry, rapid urbanization and higher living standards drive up energy use, most often of oil. Thriving economies such as China and India are quickly becoming large oil consumers. China has seen oil consumption grow by 8% yearly since 2002, doubling from 1996-2006, indicating a doubling rate of less than 10 years. It currently imports roughly half its oil, with predictions of swift continued growth in coming years. India's oil imports are expected to more than triple to some 5 million barrels a day by 2020.

Energy demand is distributed amongst four broad sectors: transportation, residential, commercial, and industrial. The sector that generally sees the highest annual growth in petroleum demand is transportation, in the form of new demand for personal-use gas-powered vehicles. Cars and trucks will cause almost 75% of the increase in oil consumption by India and China between 2001 and 2025. As more countries develop, the demand for oil will increase further. This sector also has the highest consumption rates, accounting for approximately 68.9% of the oil used in the United States in 2006, and 55% of oil use worldwide as documented in the Hirsch report. Transportation is therefore of particular interest to those seeking to mitigate the effects of Peak oil.

Optimistic estimations of peak production forecast a peak will happen in the 2020s or 2030s and assume major investments in alternatives will occur before a crisis. These models show the price of oil at first escalating and then retreating as other types of fuel and energy sources are used. Pessimistic predictions of future oil production operate on the thesis that the peak has already occurred or will occur shortly and, as proactive mitigation may no longer be an option, predict a global depression, perhaps even initiating a chain reaction of the various feedback mechanisms in the global market which might stimulate a collapse of global industrial civilization.

Possible effects and consequences of Peak Oil

The widespread use of fossil fuels has been one of the most important stimuli of Economic growth and prosperity since the industrial revolution, allowing humans to participate in takedown, or the consumption of energy at a greater rate than it is being replaced. Some believe that when oil production decreases, human culture and modern technological society will be forced to change drastically. The impact of Peak oil will depend heavily on the rate of decline and the development and adoption of effective alternatives. If alternatives are not forthcoming, the products produced with oil (including fertilizers, detergents, solvents, adhesives, and most plastics) would become scarce and expensive. At the very least this could lower living standards in developed and developing countries alike, and in the worst case lead to worldwide economic collapse. With increased tension between countries over dwindling oil supplies, political situations may change dramatically and inequalities between countries and regions may become exacerbated.

How bad can a blowout get?

The damage caused by blowouts varies for different types of wells. However, gas wells generally are high pressure wells and so pose the greatest risk of a blowout. Moreover if the gas catches fire than it can bring even greater devastation. The video below gives a good idea of how devastating blowouts can become.

P.S. the music is not too bad either!

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Life on an Offshore Rigs

This post is about the offshore drilling enthusiasts. It gives a good account of life on an offshore rig, covering pretty much all its aspects. A must see if you are interested in working on an offshore oil rig.

Sunday, April 13, 2008

How to make a drill pipe connection

Making a drill pipe connection is one of the basic jobs of a floor worker or rough-neck. There are two floor workers on the rig floor while pulling and running pipe. The more experienced individual is usually referred to as the lead and operates the lead tong. The second person on the floor operates the back-up tong and may be referred to as the back-up. The floor workers are generally the least experienced members of the crew. Team-work is therefore absolutely essential. The video below demonstrates how to making a perfect connection.

Cleaning the Drilling Fluid

The purpose of a drilling fluid cleaning system is to remove the suspending solids (drill cuttings) entrained in the mud. High solids or sand content increases the fluid density, which leads to the following problems:

High fluid density causes pressure in the formation of the borehole. This pressure drives the drilling fluid through the filter cake into the formation, leads to excessive drilling fluid loss to the formation, and extends well development time required to remove the mud from the formation.

As the fluid density increases, the pressure required to move the fluid up the borehole also increases, leading to high mud pump pressure requirements.

High solids or sand content also leads to significant abrasion in the drill tooling as the fine particles are re-circulating through the mud pump and drill string. Washed out drill strings and mud pump valves/seats, along with leaking swivel packing, are caused by the recirculation of sand through the system.

If the gravel pack is emplaced in the annulus through drilling fluid with a high sand content, the fines will be entrained in the gravel pack leading to increased well development costs and reduced well yields.

Drilling fluid in a typical direct mud rotary drilling operation is directed through the following path:

Clean fluid is pumped from the mud pump into a flow line to the drill rig.

The drill mud travels down the inside of the drill pipe to the bit.

As the fluid exits the bit nozzles, heat and drill cuttings caused by friction, are carried away from the bit face.

The cutting’s laden fluid travels up the annulus between the drill pipe and the borehole wall.

The fluid is typically contained at the ground’s surface within an above ground pit at the drill rig.

A transfer pump moves the fluid to the cleaning unit.

The fluid enters the fluid cleaning system at the “possum belly” and flows across the first linear motion shaker called the scalping shaker. This “first cut” removes the large cuttings from the mud.

The fluid falls through the scalping shaker into a pit where some settling occurs.

Another pump drives the partially cleaned fluid through a set of hydro cyclones, which removes sand and silt particles.

The hydro cyclone discharge is directed onto a second linear motions shaker with small mesh size screens (140-200), where the sand size particles are removed from the drilling fluid.

The cleaned mud is then returned to the mud pump and the cycle is repeated

Linear motion shale shakers employ the latest in technology by allowing a finer screen on the shaker. This results in more solids removed from the mud and a drier solids discharge from the unit.

Saturday, April 12, 2008

Blowouts - dangerous but spectacular at the same time

Theoretically speaking, a blow out is the ncontrolled flow of gas, oil, or other well fluids from a well during drilling due to formation pressure exceeding the pressure exerted by the column of drilling mud. Physically however, a blowout appears as a devastating gush of formation fluid (along with drilling mud), creating a spectacular jet of pressurized fluid.

Crude Oil Classifiaction

The following classification is used around the world for trading oil; the oil prices are also fixed using the same classification. Therefore it is necessary to know what type of oil we are referring when we quote the price of oil for trading or otherwise.

Brent Blend

Brent Blend, comprising 15 oils from fields in the Brent and Ninian systems in the East Shetland Basin of the North Sea. The brent crude Oil is landed at Sullom Voe in the Shetlands. Oil production from other parts of the world is often compared to the price of this brent oil, which forms a benchmark for the oil price.

Brent Crude Oil is one of the major classifications of oil consisting of Brent Crude, Brent Sweet Light Crude, Oseberg and Forties. Brent Crude oil is produced or sourced from the North Sea.

Brent blend is a fairly light crude oil, though not as light as West Texas Intermediate (WTI). It contains approx 0.37% of sulfur, classifying it as Sweet Crude, yet again not as sweet as WTI. Brent blend is ideal for production of Gasoline. It is most often refined in Northwest Europe, but when the market oil prices are favorable for export, it can also be refined also in the United States or the Mediterranean region.

West Texas Intermediate

West Texas Intermediate (WTI) is a type of crude Oil used as a benchmark in estabishing oil prices and the underlying commodity of NYMEX (New York Mercantil Exchange) Crude Oil futures trading. This is normally the type of oil referenced in Western news and business reports about crude oil prices, alongside North Sea Brent Blend crude oil.

West Texas Intermediate (WTI) is a very light crude, lighter than Brent crude oil which is fairly light. It contains approx 0.24% sulfur, rating it a "sweet" crude, sweeter than Brent oil. Its properties and production site make it ideal for being refined in the USA, mostly in the Midwest and Gulf Coast regions of the country.

OPEC Basket

It consis of crude Oil from the following countries and names:
"Arab Light", which is Crude Oil from Saudi Arabia. "Bonny Light", which is crude oil from Nigeria. "Fateh", which is crude oil from Dubai, "Isthmus" from Mexico (which is non-OPEC), "Minas" Indonesia. "Saharan Blend" which is crude oil from Algeria. "Tia Juana Light" from Venezuela.

OPEC traditionally try to keep the crude oil price of the Opec Basket between upper and lower price limits, by increasing and decreasing oil production. This makes the measure important for oil market trading analysts. The "OPEC Basket", which is a a mixture of both light and heavy crudes, is heavier than both Brent and WTI crude oils.

Extreme oil drilling and recovery methods

This video is part of a TV show on National Geographic. Owing to the high demand for oil, enhanced recovery methods have to be utilized. This video discusses the steam injection techniques employed to extract the heavy oil by Chevron. The BP is also applying the same technique to keep producing from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. Chevron has also drilled the deepest off-shore well in the Gulf of Mexico.

Tips and Techniques For Great Presentations

Presentation skills are very important for any successful professional engineer. Good presenters and communicators command the highest positions in the hierarchy of a company. It is therefore important to polish your presentation skills from the beginning, so that once you step into the industry, you are ready to make your mark.

If you have handouts, do not read straight from them. The audience does not know if they should read along with you or listen to you read.
Do not put both hands in your pockets for long periods of time. This tends to make you look unprofessional. It is OK to put one hand in a pocket but ensure there is no loose change or keys to jingle around. This will distract the listeners.
Do not wave a pointer around in the air like a wild knight branding a sword to slay a dragon. Use the pointer for what it is intended and then put it down, otherwise the audience will become fixated upon your "sword", instead upon you.
Do not lean on the podium for long periods. The audience will begin to wonder when you are going to fall over.
Speak to the audience...NOT to the visual aids, such as flip charts or overheads. Also, do not stand between the visual aid and the audience.
Speak clearly and loudly enough for all to hear. Do not speak in a monotone voice. Use inflection to emphasize your main points.
The disadvantages of presentations is that people cannot see the punctuation and this can lead to misunderstandings. An effective way of overcoming this problem is to pause at the time when there would normally be punctuation marks.
Use colored backgrounds on overhead transparencies and slides (such as yellow) as the bright white light can be harsh on the eyes. This will quickly cause your audience to tire. If all of your transparencies or slides have clear backgrounds, then tape one blank yellow one on the overhead face. For slides, use a rubber band to hold a piece of colored cellophane over the projector lens.
Learn the name of each participant as quickly as possible. Based upon the atmosphere you want to create, call them by their first names or by using Mr., Mrs., Miss, Ms.
Tell them what name and title you prefer to be called.
Listen intently to comments and opinions. By using a lateral thinking technique (adding to ideas rather than dismissing them), the audience will feel that their ideas, comments, and opinions are worthwhile.
Circulate around the room as you speak. This movement creates a physical closeness to the audience.
List and discuss your objectives at the beginning of the presentation. Let the audience know how your presentation fits in with their goals. Discuss some of the fears and apprehensions that both you and the audience might have. Tell them what they should expect of you and how you will contribute to their goals.
Vary your techniques (lecture, discussion, debate, films, slides, reading, etc.)
Get to the presentation before your audience arrives; be the last one to leave.
Be prepared to use an alternate approach if the one you've chosen seems to bog down. You should be confident enough with your own material so that the audience's interests and concerns, not the presentation outline, determines the format. Use your background, experience, and knowledge to interrelate your subject matter.
When writing on flip charts use no more than 7 lines of text per page and no more than 7 word per line (the 7 7 rule). Also, use bright and bold colors, and pictures as well as text.
Consider the time of day and how long you have got for your talk. Time of day can affect the audience. After lunch is known as the graveyard section in training circles as audiences will feel more like a nap than listening to a talk.
Most people find that if they practice in their head, the actual talk will take about 25 per cent longer. Using a flip chart or other visual aids also adds to the time. Remember - it is better to finish slightly early than to overrun.

Friday, April 11, 2008

Lost circulation drains lake

This is an amazing video about an extreme case of what can go wrong on a well site; one mistake and that may be the last thing you do. A must-see video!

Why petroleum engineers earn big?

Petroleum engineering is a very well paid profession. I have already discussed that matter in my earlier post which you can read here. In this post however I would like to explore some of the reasons that account for the high salaries earned by petroleum engineers around the world.

Oil is black gold

Oil is a very valuable resource. In constitutes the major source of usable energy in the world. In fact the industrial progress of the past 150 years can be credited to the discovery and usage of oil. Petroleum engineers extract this “black gold” and it therefore does not come as a great surprise that they command such high salaries. Oil companies are filthy rich and a small fraction of that money ends up with petroleum engineers.

Inflation of oil prices

Owing to the rise in demand for oil over the last 4-5 years, the oil prices have literally sky-rocketed to a record high. This means even more money for oil companies and hence higher salaries for their employees.

Increasing oil demand

Oil is a non-renewable resource, which means that it is eventually going to get exhausted. What that means in the long term is that oil companies will be out of business and petroleum engineers will be jobless. However that scenario will not happen until the next 50-100 years or so. During the current phase however, the oil will continue become scarce. This should (in theory at least) increase the importance of petroleum engineers. Enhanced recovery methods will have to be employed, to recover the last drops of oil from the reservoir. Deeper wells will have to be drilled in order to discover new oil fields. All this adds up to some serious challenges requiring greater knowledge and expertise. Thus the importance of petroleum engineers will increase which should see them earning even more than before.

Sacrifices

A petroleum engineer on duty has to make many sacrifices to perform their job. Whether it is family commitments or any other special occasion (like Christmas or Eid), there is no room for sentiments. So if you are on duty, missing your friends and family on a New Year’s Eve, you have no alternative except to maybe look ahead to next year. That is one of the reasons why this job this job has a huge salary associated with it, to make it attractive.

Health and Safety

Accidents are a frequent occurrence on a drill site. Injuries happen, people die but life has to go on. That is way it is; if you can’t take the heat, get out of the kitchen. So all you chickens out there do not opt for drilling engineering or related work if you can’t take the rough and tough environment.

The job of a petroleum engineer (whether involved in drilling, reservoir or production) is one of the toughest there is. There is huge investment in the oil industry and the stakes are very high. Hiring and firing is very common in this occupation as a petroleum engineer is expected to work under pressure for long, stringent hours to meet deadlines. On top of that there is safety risk involved primarily for workers on the rig-site. One mistake could cost you a job while in come cases it has cost people their lives. Therefore petroleum engineers deserve to be paid the highest possible salaries.

Petroleum Engineering Colleges in Pakistan

Ned University of Engineering and Technology

Department of Petroleum Engineering
NED Universtiy of Egineering & Technology
University Road Karachi
Phone: 021-9261261-8 Ext: 2345
Fax: 9261255
Email: cpd@neduet.edu.pk
Course outline

Mehran University of Engineering & Technology

Chairman, <

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