Petroleum engineering

Petroleum geology and geophysics focus on provision of a static description of the hydrocarbon reservoir rock, while petroleum engineering focuses on estimation of the recoverable volume of this resource using a detailed understanding of the physical behavior of oil, water and gas within porous rock at very high pressure.

The combined efforts of geologists and petroleum engineers throughout the life of a hydrocarbon accumulation determine the way in which a reservoir is developed and depleted, and usually they have the highest impact on field economics.

It provides free online education (webinars), mentoring, and access to SPE Connect, an exclusive platform for members to discuss technical issues, best practices, and other topics.

[10] Petroleum engineering education is available at many universities in the United States and throughout the world - primarily in oil producing regions.

[20][19] Also in 2016, U.S. News & World Report named petroleum engineering the top college major in terms of highest median annual wages of college-educated workers (age 25–59).

[21] The 2010 National Association of Colleges and Employers survey showed petroleum engineers as the highest paid 2010 graduates, at an average annual salary of $125,220.

[24] Other fields pertinent to petroleum engineering include geology, formation evaluation, fluid flow in porous media, well drilling technology, economics, geostatistics, etc.

[24][25] Geostatistics as applied to petroleum engineering uses statistical analysis to characterize reservoirs and create flow simulations that quantify uncertainties of the location of oil and gas.

[27] The main focus of petroleum geology is the exploration and appraisal of reservoirs containing hydrocarbons via technical forms of analysis.

The three classes of drill bits, roller cone, fixed cutter, and hybrid, each use teeth to break up the rock.

Example of a map used by reservoir engineers to determine where to drill a well. This screenshot is of a structure map generated by contour map software for an 8500 ft deep gas and oil reservoir in the Earth field, Vermilion Parish , Erath, Louisiana. The left-to-right gap near the top of the contour map indicates a fault line . This fault line is between the blue/green contour lines and the purple/red/yellow contour lines. The thin red circular contour line in the middle of the map indicates the top of the oil reservoir. Because gas floats above oil, the thin red contour line marks the gas/oil contact zone.