What does a Petroleum Engineer do?
Located about 5,000-6,000 feet in the ground are oil and gas deposits. Petroleum Engineers develop new extraction methods, as well as designing new ways to extract the oil and gas from older reservoirs below the Earth’s surface.
Typically a Petroleum engineer will;
- Design the equipment for extraction
- Develop plans for drilling and recovering oil and gas in fields
- Properly maintain equipment installation, operation, and maintenance
- Evaluate production of the wells using surveys, tests, and analysis
The oil and gas reservoirs are accessible by drilling a well through the land, or offshore oil rigs at sea. This is because they are in deep underground rock formations and require large machinery to get to.
Types of petroleum engineers
Completions engineers
A completions engineer researches the best method for building the remaining part of a well so that the oil or gas will be able to flow from undergrounds, such as hydraulic fracturing, pressure-control techniques, and tubing.
Drilling engineers
Drilling engineers research the best way to drill a well for oil or gas based on a number of factors. They also ensure the well will be as minimally disruptive to the environment as possible, and that the drilling process is safe and efficient.
Production engineers
After the drilling is complete, the production engineer monitors the production of oil and gas. If production is not as expected, they need to figure out ways to increase the amount of extraction.
Reservoir engineers
A reservoir engineer studies the reservoir to determine how much oil or gas can be recovered from the reservoir, and also monitor the operations to make sure the level of resources is optimal.
Working Together
Petroleum engineers, geoscientists, and other specialists work closely together once oil and gas are discovered. They must work together in order to understand the geologic formation that’s containing the reservoir. After studying the formation of the rock, they determine the methods of drilling, design equipment for drilling, implement a plan, and monitor the operations.
Currently, the techniques for recovering oil and gas from a reservoir only recover a portion, so the petroleum engineers are always researching for ways to develop new ways that will allow the most recovery and lower the cost of production and drilling.
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