Oil engineers often work at oil production sites.
Oil engineers are formally called petroleum engineers. Petroleum engineers work in conjunction with geologists. They design drilling methods to extract oil and gas below the earth's surface. They also design drilling equipment and monitor extraction operations.
Earning
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), petroleum engineers earned an annual median wage of $108,910 nationally as of May 2009. Oil engineers who earned the least up to that time made less than $58,600 while those who earned the most made more than $150,310. Starting salaries of recent graduates are among the highest of those holding a bachelor's degree. Petroleum engineers earned an average starting salary of $83,121 as of July 2009.
Petroleum engineers are concentrated in the oil and gas extraction industry. Within this industry, they earn an annual mean wage of $126,090 according to the BLS. Oil engineers are also employed in the mining and manufacturing industries. The highest-paying industry is the office of administrative services in the government sector. These engineers are paid an annual mean wage of $146,460.
Geographic Location
Oil engineer earnings are affected by their geographic location. For example, Alaska employs the most petroleum engineers per one thousand workers; however, Arkansas has the highest-paid petroleum engineers of any other state. Oil engineers in Arkansas earned an annual mean wage of $180,150 as of May 2009, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Engineers in North Dakota made an annual mean wage of $163,060. In states such as California, Texas and Colorado, oil engineers earned salaries well above the national average.
Employment
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, oil engineers held 21,900 jobs in 2008. The number of engineers employed in the field is expected to increase by 18 percent through the year 2018, which is faster than average across all occupations. The BLS indicates that job prospects are excellent for petroleum engineers because relatively few candidates graduate from the field.
Other Engineer Earnings
Other engineers who may work in conjunction with petroleum engineers include mining and geological engineers as well as environmental and possibly agricultural engineers. While these engineers earn relatively high salaries on average, their wages are still less than those of oil engineers. For example, mining and geological engineers earn an annual median salary of $75,960 according to the BLS. Agricultural and environmental engineers earn salaries ranging from $68,000 to $75,000 per year.
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