A bachelor's degree is the minimum requirement for a career in petroleum engineering.
The U.S. consumes more than 840 million gallons of petroleum products every day, according to the Sloan Career Cornerstone Center. Petroleum engineers help find ways to extract petroleum from the ground and process it for consumption. Universities all over the world offer bachelor's degrees in petroleum engineering, leading to lucrative careers.
What Petroleum Engineers Do
Petroleum engineers design and operate systems to find, extract, process and refine petroleum and natural gas, using scientific and mathematical principles as well as computer simulations. When they locate petroleum or natural gas deposits, they work with geologists to determine drilling and production methods and strategies, taking into consideration economic efficiency. Petroleum engineers also perform research to improve extraction methods and enhance profitability.
Programs
Undergraduate programs in petroleum engineering are very competitive, often requiring SAT scores in the range of 1,100 to 1,400, according to the Society of Petroleum Engineers. Programs require entering students to have strong math, science and computer backgrounds. Most programs are small, often fewer than 100 students. Programs exist at various large universities and small colleges, including the University of Kansas, Marietta College and Louisiana State University. Some of these programs offer scholarships to entering students. Texas A&M, for example, is one of the largest and most highly rated petroleum engineering programs in the nation.
Coursework
Most petroleum engineering degrees require at least 120 credit-hours, and some of them require considerably more. About one-third of these credit-hours must be petroleum engineering classes, such as engineering thermodynamics and reservoir engineering. Another one-third to one-half must be classes in mathematics and basic sciences--particularly differential equations, chemistry and biology. All programs require a few basic communications and humanities courses. Because of the rigor of the coursework, many students take fewer than 15 credit-hours per semester and require more than four years to graduate.
Job Placement
In 2008 there were 21,900 petroleum engineers in the U.S., according to the 2010-11 Occupational Outlook Handbook published by the U.S. Department of Labor. Job growth is expected to be about 18 percent for the coming decade, higher than the average for the labor market as a whole. In 2009, the average starting salary was $83,121, among the highest for any type of engineer.
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