by AIM9X » Wed 19 Jul 2006, 12:16:40
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mekrob', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('AIM9X', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mekrob', 'F')ind a way to go to college, get a degree in geophysics and become a reservoir or petroleum engineer. Starting salaries are 80 k for B's and 100k for Master's. But in that 4-5 year span it takes to get your degree, it's likely to go up to 120-150 spread for the two. That's a quick buck (those are the starting salaries

)
Mekrob, I been thinking about your proposal. That is good money! But even if I could afford the tuition of college, Oil is running out in a few years, no more refinaries are being built, Middle East is too darn dangerous to go to, Oil Companies are all cutting costs, so it is VERY hard to imagine that 80 k for B's of petro engineer will still last very long. I mean, if I spend 4 years to get me a BS in petro engineer, and then we hit post peak, and I can't find a job in the oil industry, and I am $100,000 in debt with student loans and all that, and interest rates skyrocket, hyperinflation, no oil, no water, no food, no electricity, then the only place I 'll be headed to is haliburton slavery center....!!! I don't want that fate! I want a sure fire way to MAKE MONEY! I want to make money!
No offense, but you're pretty much hopeless if you've been on this site (and the PO [electric] train) for quite some time.
Listen, peak oil does not mean the end of oil. For the past 25 years, being a petroleum or reservoir engineer was a horrible job. If you still had a job (most lost their jobs due to such low oil prices), you weren't paid shit. The starting wage just a few years ago was 40 k for a Master's, now it's 100 k for a Master's or 80 k for a Bachelor's (they didn't start accepting Bach's until lately). Even with $75 dollar oil, they are scrambling. Many companies (Exxon, Aramco) seriously believe that oil will reign free again and prices will drop. But when it becomes evident that this will not happen they will be clamouring for increasing amounts of geologists and technicals.
Within the next 10 to 15 years, nearly all of the experienced, hard working, intelligent reservoir engineers will be retiring (most are 50-60 years old so it could be sooner). When this massive talent pool is just about leaving the market, there will be a tremendous need for new engineers. The pay will only increase. The pay for good reservoir engineers (in this "great" oil environment) can by from $1200 and $1800
a day. When these minds start to retire, they'll be fetching far higher rates and salaries as will any new minds entering the business (
which is projected to be insufficient just to replace retirees and not making up for new demand).
Reservoir engineering deals not with finding oil but with the mechanics of producing it (how to set up the field, what the flow rate should be, etc). They work on old as well as new fields. 100% OOIP or fields in tertiary recovery stages.
Still smaller companies will be searching for more oil from the smaller fields and structures, so geologists will still be in demand.
While oil will run out some day, it will not be within our lifetime, nor will the desire and need for it. Nor will the need for those capable of exploiting the resource. Other than farmer and other techs (alt. energy and the sort), petro/reservoir engineer is one of the only professions that will have (close to) 100% employment.
Now, is Halliburton really going to be sending away the most needed technicals in the world to some shit hole to die while laying bricks? (Petro)Engineers or burger flippers? Please use your head. Keep your composure.
Oh, and many oil companies will even pay for your education, so there will be no need to go into debt. But you will need the drive to make it through something that may not be fully in your interests (academically that is).
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To get your foot in the door, I suggest that you apply for jobs in the Gulf of Mexico. They easily pay about 60k a year. You work in shifts. That is that you will work for a certain period (10 or 14 days) and then be off for that same period of time, during which you can earn even more money. However, the work is
extremely difficult. 12-14 hours a day for the entire period of your 'shift'. I'm hoping on getting a job next summer down there.
Thanks mekrob, thats some optimistic news there! If what you say is indeed true (and now that I think of it, it does make sense Halliburton will cut the throats of McDOnald workers before Oil workers) I just have one further question for you.
How do/would I get started? Did you read carefully my first post in this thread? ie no degree, no certificates.... Now, which oil companies is going to hire or pay to teach someone with no degree or no certitificates etc? especially someone who likes to talk about the end of the oil age and olduvia gorge and dieoff all day and night??