Oil&Gas Career Advice?

Where did this talk about PhD, doctors and research come from - he said he wanted to be an engineer in the oil & gas industry?? Sorry if I've misread!

I think people forget the oil and gas industry is very buoyant atm, there's lots of (engineering) jobs going because of the lack of engineers - the industry is crying out for technical people. With a PetEng degree/masters you'll be in demand.

If you want to be an engineer, complete the PetEng course because it will open a lot of doors to reservoir/production/well performance/drilling engineering roles that would otherwise be closed to you, or difficult to get into, as a chemist.

I know it sucks to keep on studying, but engineers up here get paid well so the £9k won't seem so bad after a few years.
 
Take the job, experience trumps masters, especially in this climate.
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That is actually a load of rubbish. Experience without masters < masters with experience

If you want to get out of the masters take the job, otherwise with a good masters you will find better fast track opportunities down the road.

Either way i personally wouldn't want to work in oil and gas.
 
E-mail sent.

Ignore the advice from those outside the industry, even if they're in a technical/Engineering role themselves. Unless you're in the industry you don't have a clue how it is up here and worldwide these days.

As I said in the e-mail, you'll be a graduate working offshore as part of a Wireline crew, be it day or likely for you, night shift. At the start you'll be a dogs body, cleaning tools, servicing them and doing planty of heavy manual work across the rig/boat to setup the equipment ready for Wireline runs into the well. You'll quickly think 'Why the **** am I doing this, I could do soo much more'. Unfortunately the money if you're away a lot offshore will be higher than that of an equivalent entry level role onshore, but even that wains quickly, as it did with me!

Finish the Masters and get a better job onshore! Offshore experience is great, but something you can get from an onshore role also.

oulton said:
Either way i personally wouldn't want to work in oil and gas.
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Why's that?

It's a booming industry worldwide with excellent and exciting roles, pacakages and salaries that are tough to match bar the highest paying industries out there, you can travel and work across the world and easily sort out a role with a nice expat package so you don't have to live in the ****y UK. Full. Of. Win!
 
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alx said:
If you want to be an engineer, complete the PetEng course because it will open a lot of doors to reservoir/production/well performance/drilling engineering roles that would otherwise be closed to you, or difficult to get into, as a chemist.
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This pretty much sums up my decision.

Thanks everyone for the advice, especially -Ad- for the detailed e-mail. :)

Better get writing this report for Friday then... :mad:
 
Elixir said:
This pretty much sums up my decision.

Thanks everyone for the advice, especially -Ad- for the detailed e-mail. :)

Better get writing this report for Friday then... :mad:
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I'm sure you won't regret it, short term pain for long term gain :)
 
You'll likely be offered a job as well even after the masters, so don't worry about it. If you have already started the course, carry on with it. It will put you above any other applicant that only has a bachelors, and you will likely land a better job anyway.

Good luck :-)

(personally, I'd go with the being the undersea welder that gets to carry a bad ass shark knife ;-) lol - They probably use bells nowadays instead of suits?).
 
alx said:
Where did this talk about PhD, doctors and research come from - he said he wanted to be an engineer in the oil & gas industry?? Sorry if I've misread!
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I naturally assumed petroleum engineering would be highly research based, which is where a PhD would get you all the right places.

I'm not 100% what being a petroleum engineer entails mind you.
 
pitchfork said:
I naturally assumed petroleum engineering would be highly research based, which is where a PhD would get you all the right places.

I'm not 100% what being a petroleum engineer entails mind you.
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It's mainly the opposite. Most petroleum engineers will usually end up working for oil companies dealing with actual reservoirs, wells etc (to put it simply).
 
i left AS-levels to get a job as a lab technician in the petrochemicals industry (although as an independant not a petrochemicals company as such) and although i do wish i had stayed on and eventually gone to Uni since moving companys (to a petrochemicals company) i now have an above national average salary and really enjoy my work... the problem is now i am in a position i am happy with despite 11 years experience without the paperwork i dont think i will ever move any higher then my current position should i want to in the future as i will be competing with people with BSc, MSc & PhD's... as much as i have looked into OU and could now afford to fund myself through it with a wife, 2 kids and a full time shift job i dont know if i would have the time to do a good enough job of it to justify the cost.

i would ask the employer if there is any chance they could sponsor you through a course to get a qualification relevant to the position, if you have no other family commitments atm (guessing not in Uni) work your ass off for a few years and you wont regret it.
 
Take the job.

I am an instrument technician on South Hook LNG and love it!

My sister is an operator for Valero and my cousin is the lead instrumentation engineer for chevron working on the gorgon project in Australia.

Any questions feel free to ask and i'll do my best to help.
 
Masters in chemistry?

Option 3.
Get back in touch with an old friend who has connections
Cook
?????
PROFIT
 
Nitefly said:
What's the appeal of oil and gas?
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A lot of money in the industry, which on top of the obvious high rewards in terms of salary etc, ensures it's constantly developing and advancing in terms of technology and investment. Plus the North Sea oil and gas sector is very strong at the moment with £billions of new investment so far this year.

Previously worked in the pharmaceutical industry, the majority of people had been in the same job for a long time and progression was far slower, the prospect bored me.
 
Nitefly said:
What's the appeal of oil and gas?
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Money, company benefits, good career options and progression, interesting and varied roles (but depends what you do I guess), ability to travel the world.

It obviously has some downsides, but due to the large variety and types of jobs available most people can find something that suits them - although the skills, experience and education you have does have a big impact obviously.
 
alx said:
It's mainly the opposite. Most petroleum engineers will usually end up working for oil companies dealing with actual reservoirs, wells etc (to put it simply).
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I sort of assumed due to the start in Chemistry it'd be more about developing petroleum into a better product, fair enough though.
 
This gives a pretty good overview of what a petroleum engineer is, less effort than me explaining :p: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroleum_engineering

Geologists tend to deal more with finding reserves and analysis seismic data, but you do get operations geologists who will analyse rock and core samples as drilling takes place.

Process/chemical engineers are the ones who are generally responsible for turning a raw resource into a useful product - but on an offshore platform you're basically just separating the oil, gas and water before sending it onshore to be processed (ie to an oil refinery to produce useful products like petrol, diesel, kerosene etc).
 
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