[x_MiSSANN]

I'm planning to major in petroleum engineering and international business so yeah...
So my question is, how much dedication to math and science is required for petroleum eng.? Truth be told, the only reason i want to major in petroleum eng. is b/c of the money and my mother. Oh, and is there any good engineering colleges that is outside of Texas? And any interesting/need to know facts you can tell me about the field is GREAT too.

[Avex]

Hi, I suggest you post on collegeconfidential. Petroleum Engineering is not as popular as the big four engineering fields (Electrical, Mechnical, and Civil, Chemical, land to a certain extent, Industrial), so you're not really going to find much responses here.

Please don't do petroleum engineering if it is only for the money - I personally cannot stand working out in the oil fields (but then again, I do not know much the field myself). You should really explore the field and see if its something you really like (i.e. look at the job description). There are other

You're obviously going to need a lot of chemistry, I assume, since you are dealing with chemicals.

Petroleum engineering has become a technical profession that involves extracting oil in increasingly difficult situations as the "low hanging fruit" of the world's oil fields are found and depleted. Improvements in computer modeling, materials and the application of statistics, probability analysis, and new technologies like horizontal drilling and enhanced oil recovery, have drastically improved the toolbox of the petroleum engineer in recent decades.

As mistakes may be measured in millions of dollars, petroleum engineers are held to a high standard. Deepwater operations can arguably be compared to space travel in terms of technical challenges. Arctic conditions and conditions of extreme heat have to be contended with. High Temperature and High Pressure (HTHP) environments that have become increasingly commonplace in today's operations require the petroleum engineer to be savvy in topics as wide ranging as thermohydraulics, geomechanics, and intelligent systems.


Petroleum engineers must implement high technology plans with manpower and high coordination, often in dangerous conditions. The drilling rig crew and machines they use become the remote partner of the petroleum engineer in implementing every drilling program. Understanding and accounting for the issues and communication challenges of building these teams remain just as vital to the petroleum engineer as ever.

The Society of Petroleum Engineers is the largest professional society for petroleum engineers and publishes much information concerning the industry. Petroleum engineering education is available at 17 universities in the United States and many more throughout the world - primarily in oil producing states - but not only top producers, and some oil companies have considerable in house petroleum engineering training classes.

Petroleum engineers have historically been one of the highest paid engineering disciplines; this is offset by a tendency for mass layoffs when oil prices decline. According to a survey published in September 2007 the average income is USD$122,458. In a June 4th, 2007 article, Forbes.com reported that Petroleum Engineering was the 24th best paying job in the United States.[1]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroleum_engineering

IMO, find like a way to get like a petroleum engineering internship, or a way to connect to it.
I assume that if you are specifically doing this for the money, and you enjoy work in the oil fields - you might like the field.
All engineering requires a lot of math and science - it's how you use it which describes the extent of how engineering-minded you are to solve difficult situations (i.e. how to drill).

[xtah_]

lol.. i have a couple of friends doing pet.engine over at the US and some have even graduated and work. Good choice there especially if you're going for the money :-). Oh yeah, to answer ur question.. math in geophysics and chemistry in geology AND The University of Texas at Austin :-)

[cutiek028]

Good Engineering schools outside of Texas are:

MIT
University of California and other California uni.
Georgia Tech
University of Central Florida
University of Florida

I'm not sure if they have petroleum uni...
Check at collegeboard.com

They have a thing that will narrow down universities based on majors, size, states...etc.

[azngirl1114]

if i'm not wrong...i think colorado school of mines has petroleum engineering
my counselor said that it was a good engineering school (personally, i don't believe her...but i applied there anyways)
idk if u should rly go into petroleum engineering...lots of $...but other energy sources are being developed
as for myself, i think i'd rather go into chemical engineering or biomedical engineering because then i can be a part of new developments