Petroleum engineering is characterized by very high pay rates.
Petroleum engineers work with geologists to determine appropriate drilling procedures for specific resource sites and develop extraction methods. Petroleum engineers also develop and improve technology for increasing the amount of oil and gas extracted from a reservoir. These professionals have the highest pay scale of all types of engineers, reports the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Comparisons
In 2008, about 1.6 million engineers were employed in the United States, but only a small percentage of them worked as petroleum engineers, finds the BLS. An estimated 25,540 petroleum engineers held jobs in the United States as of May 2009. Their average salary was $57.67 per hour, or $119,960 per year. The next two highest-paying engineering professions were computer hardware engineering, with an average annual salary of $101,410, and nuclear engineering, at $100,350 per year on average.
Pay Scale
The middle 50 percent of petroleum engineers on the earnings scale were making $79,810 to $150,310 per year in 2009. The bottom 10 percent had annual salaries of $58,600 and below. The BLS does not disclose the top 10 percent of salaries for petroleum engineers, but states the amount is at least $166,400 per year.
Employment by State
Petroleum engineering work is concentrated in areas with large petroleum deposits. The largest number of petroleum engineers per capita were working in Alaska in 2009, earning an average salary of $154,500 per year. Rounding out the top five states were Wyoming, with an annual average salary of $77,670, Oklahoma at $110,390, Texas at $126,240, and Louisiana at $99,550.
Employment by Metro Area
The largest concentration of petroleum engineers by metro area in 2009 was in Midland, Texas, where they were earning $124,570 per year on average. The other highest concentrations were in Casper, Wyoming, at an average salary of $83,200 per year; Anchorage, Alaska, at $168,060; Odessa, Texas, at $86,150; and the greater Houston area in Texas at $132,690.
Highest-Paying Areas
The highest salary for petroleum engineers by state in 2009 was in Arkansas, where they earned $180,150 per year on average. The highest-paying metro region in the country for petroleum engineers was the greater Fort Smith area in Arkansas, with an average annual salary of $199,860. North Dakota was the second-highest paying state, at an average of $163,060 per year, and Alaska was third, at $154,500. Anchorage, Alaska, was the second-highest paying metro area for petroleum engineers, with an average salary of $168,060 per year. The other states where petroleum engineers earned average salaries of over $100,000 per year included California, Colorado, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Utah, Virginia and West Virginia.
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