Posted by Yves on 2/14/14, 12:00 AM in Industrial Application

Careers in the oil and gas industry today

Oil and gas are today the most important sources of energy in the world. Their main purpose is to produce power for our industries, light our homes, run ships, vehicles and trains, as well as provide us with synthetic materials, plastics just to name but a few.

The future of oil and gas industry is a thrilling one but also a challenging one. There is an ever increasing demand for oil and gas in the world, yet the same world is expected to take care of our natural resources and the planet at large.

People needed in this industry

This industry offers job opportunities of all kinds. Most of these jobs are office based but there are other field jobs as well as others involving more of travelling. At any one given time, there will be scientists working in laboratories, may be coming up with a new oil product, working on platforms in offshore drilling plants, sales people discussing oil prices, and so on.

Jobs Offered

Careers in the oil and gas industry include

1. Exploration and production

This work provides job opportunities at many levels. First, there will seismic surveyors and analyzers to look for new oil reserves. Production of oil calls for specialists such as drillers, and engineers in chemical, electrical and mechanical engineering.

2. Refining

Here, there exist a widespread range of mostly technical jobs. There will be general technical assistants, specialists, maintenance and operating staff, computer system experts, engineers etc.

3. Marketing and distribution

A wide variety of job opportunities exist in form of accountants, sales people, marketing directors, economists, system analysts, oil depot managers, drivers and many others. This area is dominated by non-science people as it involves more of the business aspects.

4. Research and developments

This is one vital and sensitive place that will determine the future of the oil and gas industry. This is where the jobs available are run by specialists with cutting edge knowledge and experience in the oil sector. It is also an area that is science dominated as it is run by scientists. The main work here is research on new or better ways of discovering and using gas and oil effectively.

Here, scientists lead the research work. Nevertheless, there are also less technical workers, such as technical and laboratory assistants who play more of support role.

5. Commercial services

This industry depends on efficient management of finances to run its day-to-day activities. The job opportunities here are in the areas of finance, trading, personnel, information technology, contracts and purchase and supply management.

Careers in this industry

1. Science students

Their work is mainly discovering new oil reserves, and coming up with new oil and gas products. Careers here include;

Geophysicists

Hydrologists

Mud loggers

Process engineers

Petroleum engineers

Geochemists

2. Engineering students

There is a lot of engineering works especially at the oil wells and oil refineries. The work here is technical so it requires broad knowledge especially in offshore wells where engineers have to work in waters. Engineering careers in the oil and gas industry include

Chemical Engineers

Design engineers

Civil engineers

Drilling engineers

Mechanical engineers

Engineering Geologists

Mining engineers

Process engineers

Electrical engineers

Petroleum engineers

3. Mathematics students

Mathematics related work here is to support engineers and scientists researching on new developments as well as working on oil fields. Careers include

Engineering geologists

Mud loggers

Geophysicists

4. Business students

Work here is mainly related to marketing and distribution of oil and gas. Careers include

Account managers

Marketing managers

Oil brokers

Personnel managers

Plant managers

Production managers

Thus, as you can see, there are lots of jobs for everyone, if you take a career in the oil and gas industry.