Javi Valdes

The most Basic description of what a petroleum engineer does is
to apply different techniques in order to extract oil and gas from
beneath the earths. Aside from extracting oil and gas from the
earth many engineers can expect to work with other engineers to
develop new methods and technology to improve the efficiency of
oil and gas production. However, not all engineers perform the
same tasks. Some engineers are in charge of day to day
production and insuring that the well is producing at a consistent
rate. Some engineers are in charge of production operations. This
involves overseeing the use of safe operations and maintenance
techniques. There are also reservoir engineers that well look at
well and the statistics it’s producing and based on those numbers
they predict the well max potential and how long it’ll produce.
Learning the techniques and technologies is a pivotal part to all
these jobs and there are some pretty impressive ones out there.
 Fracking
• Hydraulic fracturing is one of the techniques that petroleum
engineers use in order to get oil from the ground. Hydraulic
fracturing also known as “fracking” is a process by which water
sand and other chemicals are pumped down into a well at high
pressures. The violent pressure caused by this process breaks up
the rock allowing the oil and gas to flow through the rock freely.
 Horizontal
Drilling
• Engineers are able to drill down to the desired depth and then turn
the drill bit to drill into the layer of rock being targeted. With this
method of drilling into rather than through the rock you may be
able to go from being able to contact a mere 110 feet of rock to
contacting over 1,000 feet of rock (Blackmon, David.). This
technique allows companies to recover a much larger amount of oil
and gas for a lower price than what would’ve been required to
recover the same amount of oil and gas with vertical drilling.
 Engineers
can work in both offices or out
in the field based upon the job they are
performing.
 For the most part Engineers work
standard hours.
 Engineers
can expect to make anywhere from
$85,000 to upwards of $200,000.
 The median pay for a Petroleum engineers was
$130,000.
 In good times like these its rather common for
engineers to be making $100,000 Straight out
of college.
 Texas
 Texas Tech
 Colorado
School of Mines
 Texas A&M
 Stanford
 USC
 The
pay is by far one of the highest in the
nation. Especially amongst graduates.
 You can travel the world.
 Most Companies offer good benefits.
(401K, Health Insurance, etc.)
 Obviously
the oil industry is very
unstable.
 Oil wont be here forever.
 You can sometimes be on call if a project
is in a vital stage.

Overall this job seems like the one for me. The job plays to my
strengths of math and science since it is engineering. The money
is an obvious draw to this field. I’ve worked at a car wash for about
year so I’ve had to wash hundreds of these engineers’ big fancy
trucks to the point that I’m hungry to have my own. While having a
big fancy truck and a big house are very important to me the
money really draws me because it’s going to allow me to provide
for my family in ways that very few people are able to. I’ve by no
means had a bad life and I’m very thankful for that, but I want to
give my kids an even better one. I think it’s the job of every adult
to strive to give their kids something better than what they got.
While money certainly isn’t everything, it definitely makes things
easier and this job will allow me and my family to live a financially
stable job. This job has its risks of course, but I’ve evaluated them
very closely and done that research to the pint that I’m certain that
this is the job I’d like to pursue. It’s for all these reasons that
Petroleum Engineering is an amazing job and one that is most
certainly for me.
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkTT
CX_MyS4