[joeltrout]

I am in my mid-twenties and work for an oil company. Obviously I have a long career in front of me and a very uncertain future.

If the world oil production did/does peak soon and prices skyrocketed...would a career in the oil business be a profitable road for the next 35 yrs even if the rest of the world might fall into recession.

When oil companies are making large profits, such as now, their employees tend to benefit greatly from increased salaries and bonuses. There is also a problem that as much as 50% of the US energy professionals are eligible for retirement in the next 10 years according to the Houston Chronicle in a Nov 7 article title "Energy Labor Crunch Looms" (Sorry I dont know how to submit web links yet).

Anyways it seems like there will be lots of work to help supply what oil the US has left and a large depletion of oil professionals in the US.

joeltrout

[sicophiliac]

What specifically do you do for the oil companies and how much do you make if you dont mind me asking? Seems like any energy sector job would vastly more secure than anything else out there right now. Yes the oil will eventually run out but it'll be along time before they cut back on anybody in the work force I would assume. Be grateful you have your job, whatever it is.. you can sleep a lot better at night than most of us I am sure.

[joeltrout]

I am a landman. We do everything from lease negotiations, mineral title work, mineral portfolio management, etc...Most landman with 2 years experience make around $85 - $90,000.

Since prices have gone up so much and many of the industry professionals are "aging" demand for young professionals is huge and is only going to grow. Unless something drastically changes it should be a pretty good career for the next few decades.

[sicophiliac]

Haha and they say all the good real estate jobs are gone now. Looks like you got one of the few promising jobs dealing with real estate these days. Good for you though man, thats twice what I make and I have been spraying bugs for 5 1/2 years. Im now in a do or die position to get educated or certified in something that can get me a job in the energy industry. I feel as though I am on borrowed time at my job.. works getting to be very slow and I know that wont change.

[joeltrout]

Its a good field to get into. I'm not a technical person so petroleum engineering, geology, or geophyics is out of my league. But I do like interacting with people but also being able to work alone sometimes.

You can work out of your home as an independent (consultant) or work for small or large oil and gas companies in their land department. Every well in the US that is drilled required at least one land person to lease it from the mineral owner and get a surface-use permit from the surface owner.

The biggest plus is for some reason oil exploration stopped overnight, then you can use the same skills for getting land-use rights for windfarms or utility right-of-ways for stuff like pipelines, power lines, or even highways. It is pretty diverse.

[MrBill]

joeltrout wrote:
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he biggest plus is for some reason oil exploration stopped overnight, then you can use the same skills for getting land-use rights for windfarms or utility right-of-ways for stuff like pipelines, power lines, or even highways. It is pretty diverse.