Also called: Drilling Engineer, Reservoir Engineer
Plans how to drill and produce oil and gas from deep under the seafloor.
Petroleum engineers design wells thousands of feet below the Gulf of Mexico, model reservoirs on computers, and visit rigs to troubleshoot.
BLS median about $141k.
Bachelor's degree (4-year), about 4 years after high school. Bachelor's in petroleum engineering (Texas A&M, UT Austin, Colorado School of Mines, LSU).
Ways in: 4-year college, Graduate school. Training cost: $15k – $60k.
Majors to look at: Petroleum Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering.
Growing about average (about 2% over 10 years). Oil price cycles cause boom-and-bust hiring.
Medium risk for 10 years. AI reservoir and drilling models speed analysis and trim junior work; oil price cycles still matter more than AI.
Classes: AP Chemistry, AP Physics, AP Calculus.
Official data: O*NET occupation 17-2171.
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