Careers in Petroleum
Engineering
presented by
Dr. Bryan Maggard
Undergraduate Advisor
maggard@pe.tamu.edu
979-845-6955
www.pe.tamu.edu
Work force in many industries is aging
Careers in Petroleum Engineering
Major shortage of technical personnel NOW!
Careers in Petroleum Engineering
As a PETE you can work in
many faraway places.
Job Supervision at -45°C…
(Prudhoe Bay, Alaska) (~-50°F)
Careers in Petroleum Engineering
PETE
…and at +45°C
(Lekhwair, Oman)
(~+115°F)
“support engineers”
Careers in Petroleum Engineering
BUT, you don’t have to travel!
Huge unconventional gas reserves,
right here at home…
Largest U.S.
Gas Field!
…not to mention the Gulf of Mexico,
W. Texas, Latin America, Canada, and
Alaska! Engineering
Careers in Petroleum
Outline
• Technical Aspects of Oil & Gas
• The Oil & Gas Industry
 supply & demand
 oil & gas reserves
 petroleum engineer’s role
• The Harold Vance Department of
Petroleum Engineering
Careers in Petroleum Engineering
Hydrocarbon Molecules—many simple
Simplest
hydrocarbon is
methane--CH4
Careers in Petroleum Engineering
And some are very complex!
Careers in Petroleum Engineering
Where Do We Find Hydrocarbons?
in a big lake of
oil…
…made from dinosaur
carcasses?
No! on both counts!
Careers in Petroleum Engineering
Oil and Gas Deposits—are in Porous Rocks
• Deep source rocks
 Shales containing remains of mostly algae
• Underground reservoir rocks
 porous rock,
 usually sedimentary (sandstone, limestone)
 not lakes!
• Traps
 Porousrock beds with impermeable cap rock
 Now we can even produce from source rocks
Careers in Petroleum Engineering
Rhombohedral Packing of Spheres—26% Porosity
In reservoirs,
oil is here...
…and the
original oil
source was
mainly
algae!
Careers in Petroleum Engineering
Cross Section of a Petroleum System
Stratigraphic
Extent of
Petroleum
System
Pod of Active
Source Rock
Essential
Elements
of
Petroleum
System
Petroleum Reservoir (O)
Fold-and-Thrust Belt
(arrows indicate relative fault motion)
(modified from Magoon and Dow, 1994)
Careers in Petroleum Engineering
O
Overburden Rock
Seal Rock
Reservoir Rock
Source Rock
Underburden Rock
Basement Rock
Top Oil Window
Top Gas Window
Sedimentary
Basin Fill
O
Geographic Extent of Petroleum System
Extent of Play
Extent of Prospect/Field
O
Generation, Migration, & Accumulation
Seal
Fault
(impermeable)
Oil/water
Seal contact (OWC)
Migration route
Seal
Hydrocarbon
accumulation
in the
reservoir rock
Top of maturity
Source rock
Careers in Petroleum Engineering
Reservoir
rock
Industry & Petroleum Engineering
• Energy Supply & Demand
• World Oil & Gas Reserves
• The Need for Petroleum Engineers
Careers in Petroleum Engineering
Careers in Petroleum Engineering
Careers in Petroleum Engineering
Careers in Petroleum Engineering
Alternative energy will save us…eventually
One Windmill blade
• 1000 windmills to
replace one coalfired power plant
• Hundreds of
windmills to replace
one natural gasfired power plant.
• And gas is the
greenest fossil fuel
Careers in Petroleum Engineering
(modified from November/December 2004, Drilling Contractor Magazine)
Conventional Reservoirs
Small Volumes, “Easy” to Develop
Unconventional
Reservoirs
Large Volumes,
“Difficult” to Develop
Easy
Stuff!
PAST
Low Permeability
Reservoirs (Oil and Gas)
Gas Shales
Gas Hydrates
Heavy Oil
Higher Prices
Improved Technology
Petroleum Resources
PRESENT
Coalbed Gas
Oil Shale
FUTURE
Plus Development of Infrastructure and Delivery of Alternative Energy
We will
need more Aggie Engineers!!!
Careers in Petroleum Engineering
Crude oil prices since 1861
--last few years driven by demand!
Specialty product
Demand!
geopolitics
commodity
Careers in Petroleum Engineering
Oil & Gas Reserves
“Reserves are those quantities of
petroleum which are anticipated to
be commercially recoverable from
known accumulations from a given
date forward.” SPE-WPC (1997)
Careers in Petroleum Engineering
Proved conventional oil reserves currently
Careers in Petroleum Engineering
You can help change the
Import picture!
Careers in Petroleum Engineering
Advances in Well Drilling
• In early days we borrowed technology from
other industries…
 Water-well drilling rigs
 Anti-tank weapon technology to shoot through
steel/cement to connect wellbore to reservoir
• …Now others borrow from us
 Drilling for evidence of water on Mars using Baker
Hughes drilling equipment
Careers in Petroleum Engineering
1900
Adapted Water Well Technology
2000
Careers in Petroleum Engineering
The Petroleum Engineer’s Role
• Petroleum engineers are primarily concerned
with the economic extraction of oil, gas, and
other natural resources from the earth.
They:
 design, drill, and operate wells and well
systems
 evaluate the resources of subsurface
formations
 manage the underground reservoirs in
which the resources are found
• Massive computer use in the office
• Great opportunities to supervise in the field
Careers in Petroleum Engineering
Harold Vance Dept of Petroleum Engineering
• Great students
 entering students have among the top scores at Texas A&M and
College of Engineering
• Great faculty
 4 faculty are members of the National Academy of Engineering
 15 faculty are Society of Petroleum Engineers – Distinguished
Members
• Great scholarship program
 students who carry 3.0 and 13 hours typically have departmental
merit scholarships
• Great degree program
 top-ranked program in US
 among the largest programs in US
 strong demand results in competitive admission
Careers in Petroleum Engineering
Other Interesting Facts
• Many executives of major, multinational oil
companies are Aggie Petroleum Engineers
• 15-20% of US petroleum engineering
graduates are from Texas A&M
• Petroleum engineers command among the
highest starting salaries nationwide
 Summer internships often pay $4000-5000 per
month—and summer jobs often lead to full-time
employment
 See following slide
Careers in Petroleum Engineering
Other Interesting Facts
Modified from NPR, 9 September 2013 (Removed lowest majors)
http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2013/09/10/219372252/the-most-and-least-lucrative-college-majors-in-1graph?utm_source=npr&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=nprfacebook
Careers in Petroleum Engineering
Careers in Petroleum
Engineering
presented by
Dr. Bryan Maggard
Undergraduate Advisor
maggard@pe.tamu.edu
979-845-6955
www.pe.tamu.edu