At a glance
Imagine you are working in the field, preparing a site for the production of hydrocarbons (oil and gas). For the past few months, you have been working very closely with geoscientists to assess the quality of potential drilling locations in terms of the amount of oil available, the quality of the oil, and how far below the surface it lies. After a site has been chosen, you will determine the equipment you will need to extract the oil. You are a petroleum engineer, and you involved in almost every stage of oil and gas exploration and development. As a petroleum engineer, you search for potential drilling locations, and assess whether or not potential drilling locations will have economic value for your company. You do this by taking samples from the location and analyzing the data. After a valuable drilling site has been selected, you are then in charge of monitoring and coordinating the process of drilling to get oil to the surface. Lastly, you monitor the removal of equipment when the drilling at the location is complete. You also spend time developing ways to optimize drilling methods, and researching alternative ways of hydrocarbon recovery. The goal is to lower costs, and reduce the environmental impact of operations. You are proactive by working to design and implement environmentally responsible techniques. You want to prevent oil spills that can be very damaging to the environment.