Oil Companies Need You! Peak Oil and the Petroleum Engineer Shortage

You have probably heard of Peak Oil and the rumored oil shortage that's on the way. But have you heard of the petroleum engineer shortage that's coming as well? Big oil companies are scrambling to find sufficient petroleum engineers to fill the gap left by retiring engineers and lack of new petroleum engineering graduates.

The low number of current and newly graduating petroleum engineers is a big concern for oil companies. There are only half the number of petroleum engineers than there were in the 1980's. Many are retiring, and too few new engineers are graduating to replace them. The number of new engineers needed by oil companies reaches into the thousands.

Ironically, the supply of engineers is dwindling just as the need for them is growing. As oil reaches is peak of production in many parts of the world, petroleum engineers are needed desperately, as they play a major role in designing new and better technology for the oil that is becoming ever more difficult to extract. Petroleum engineers work in every aspect of oil production, from designing new extraction technology, to finding new deposits of oil, to marine oil well extraction to newer technology like horizontal drilling.

Competition by oil companies for newly graduating petroleum engineers is fierce. The average starting wage for new engineers is over $60,000 a year and growing. With sign-on bonuses, some starting salaries reach over $100,000 the first year. Many students already have jobs lined up before they even graduate, and placement is near 100 percent.

Petroleum engineers only need a 4-year bachelor's degree to start their career. Unfortunately, there are only a few schools in the U.S. that offer a petroleum engineering degree. These schools include Texas A&M, Colorado School of Mines, Penn State, Stanford, Marietta College, Texas Tech, University of Alaska Fairbanks, University of Wyoming, West Virginia University, University of Tulsa, University of Pittsburgh, University of Missouri, University of Oklahoma, University of Louisiana, University of Kansas, New Mexico Tech, Louisiana State University, and Montana Tech.

Enrollment in petroleum engineering degree programs is increasing, however, due to the short length of schooling, high wages, incentives and sign-on bonuses. Some universities are offering great incentives to petroleum engineering students in the form of scholarships, and some companies are offering high-paying internships to students.

There are many reasons you may want to consider a career in petroleum engineering. Besides the possibility of world travel (paid by your employer), petroleum engineers receive the highest pay on average of all the engineering disciplines. Besides the benefit of a high starting salary, you can expect to make anywhere from almost $90,000 to over $130,000 per year. And that average is growing every year.