Career In Petroleum Engineering: Courses, Admission, Jobs, Salary

Petroleum is one of the main sources of energy that is widely used in the 21st century. The career in this field is attractive and offers a wide range of opportunities, good salaries and th potential for growth.

“Petroleum Engineering is the branch of engineering courses that deals with the study of production of hydrocarbons such as crude oil or natural gas”.

Petroleum engineers are involved in the production and exploration of oil and gas. They also work with geo-scientists and other specialist to design and implement methods for extracting these resources efficiently and safely.

Petroleum engineering needs a knowledge of many other disciplines such as geophysics, petroleum geology, formation evaluation, drilling, economics, reservoir simulation, reservoir engineering, well engineering, artificial lift systems, etc.

Petroleum Engineers work in drilling oil wells, safe and economical recovery of oil and natural gas, development and processing of petroleum, and management of the production process. The job profile also involve working in specialist capacities such as reservoir engineer, drilling engineer and production engineer

This field was first introduced in 1914 at American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical and Petroleum Engineers (AIME). The first petroleum engineering degree was awarded in 1915 by University of Pittsburgh.

Petroleum Engineers are of the following types:

• Reservoir Engineers enhances the production of oil and gas.
• Drilling Engineers deals with the technical aspects of drilling.
• Production Engineers handles the interface between reservoirs and wells.

Shortly, we can say that Petroleum Engineers locate, recover and maintain oil and gas resources of the country to meet the global demand of oil and natural gas.

Petroleum Engineering Course Details

 How to become a Petroleum Engineer?

To become a petroleum engineer, you must have a bachelor’s degree in petroleum engineering. Candidates possessing bachelor’s degree in mechanical or chemical engineering can also work in this field but bachelor’s degree in petroleum engineering is preferred first.

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Petroleum Engineering Courses

For a career in petroleum engineering domain, candidates must meet the prerequite educational qualifications. Some of the popular undergraduate and postgraduate courses leading to the career in this field include:

Bachelor’s Courses

The B.E. or B.Tech programs offered in this field are listed below. The course duration of B.Tech courses is 4 years.

• B.E./B.Tech in Petroleum Engineering 
• B.Tech in Petrochemical Engineering
• B.Tech in Applied Petroleum Engineering
• B.Tech in Petroleum Refinery Engineering
• B.Tech in Petroleum Reservoir and Production Engineering

Master’s Courses

The course duration for master program in petroleum engineerig is 2 Years. 

• M.E./M.Tech in Petroleum Exploration
• M.Tech Petroleum Refinery Engineering
• M.Tech in Petroleum Refining and Petrochemical Engineering

M.Tech + B.Tech in Petroleum Engineering – 5 Years Duration (Dual Degree)

Eligibility Criteria

The eligibility criteria for admission to a B.E/B.Tech or M.Tech in Petroleum engineering as follows:

Candidates must pass the higher secondary examination (10+2) with science stream having Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics subject combination.

Must qualify engineering entrance exams like JEE Main, JEE Advanced or any other accepted entrance examination.

For admission to a master course, candidate must pass bachelor degree in the relevant discipline.

Petroleum Engineering – Course Curriculum

Subjects involved in the course curriculum of Petroleum engineering are as follows:

• Introduction to Petroleum Engineering
• Reservoir Engineering
• Drilling Engineering
• Production Engineering
• Well Logging and Formation Evaluation
• Petroleum Geology
• Enhanced Oil Recovery
• Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics
• Petroleum Geophysics
• Natural Gas Engineering
• Petroleum Refining and Processing
• Offshore Engineering
• Petroleum Reservoir Simulation
• Hydrocarbon Exploration
• Petroleum Economics and Project Management
• Seismic Data Interpretation
• Drilling Fluids and Cementing
• Rock and Fluid Properties
• Well Testing and Formation Evaluation
• Environmental Impact and Safety in the Petroleum Industry

Admission Process

Candidates interested in pursuing a B.Tech in petroleum engineering must qualify the engineering entrance exams like JEE Main and JEE Advanced.

Admission in the top institutions like IIT’s and NIT’s is done on the basis of rank score in the JEE Advanced and JEE Main.

Many private university conduct their university level entrance exams for admission to thei engineering programs.

Candidates looking for master’s program like M.E. or M.Tech in Petroleum engineering are informed that admission is done on the basis of national level entrance test known as GATE.

The Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE 2025) is the most popular entrance test that provides entry to the first year Master of Technology/Master of Engineering courses. Most of the institutions of India consider GATE scores for granting admission to their PG engineering programs.

Some of the private Universities/institution conducts their own entrance test for providing admission in to their UG programs. UPESEAT 2025 is one of the reputed entrance examinations administered by the University of Petroleum and Energy Studies (UPES), Dehradun for granting admission to its engineering courses.

Top Colleges

Here is the list of renowned institutions that offer courses in petroleum engineering:

• Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay
• Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur
• Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras
• Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Dhanbad
• University of Petroleum and Energy Studies (UPES), Dehradun
• Indian School of Mines (ISM), Dhanbad
• Pandit Deendayal Petroleum University (PDPU), Gandhinagar
• Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Technological University (DBATU)
• National Institute of Technology (NIT) Rourkela
• Pandit Deendayal Petroleum University, Gandhinagar
• Dibrugarh University

Jobs & Career Scope

Is Petroleum engineers future bright…??

If you’re passionate about energy sector and its exploration, a degree in Petroleum Engineering can open numerous career paths for the young professionals.

Petroleum (Oil) is the major contributor to the gobal energy requirement due to its widespread use in vehicles, industrial machinery, chemicals, fertilizers and plastic industry.

As we know Petroleum and its products are key to the growing energy and fuel requirements of the world. The global demand of petroleum and its products play a vital role in power industries, transportation and electricity generation.

Due to the global demand of petroleum, this field will continue to provide job opportunties to the skilled professionals. Candidates can work with oil and gas exploration companies, paints and chemical companies and also in the energy consulting domains.

As a petroleum engineer, one need to work at the drilling sites, refineries and petroleum byproducts manufacturing plants. In India, candidates can work with PSU’s like ONGC, IOCL, BPCL and HPCL as these companies heavily recruit candidates with a degree in petroleum engineering or a similar domain.

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Top Recruiters

Jobs are also offered in the government as well as in private sector. Some of the top Companies that recruits petroleum engineers are as follows:

• Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC)
• Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL)
• Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL)
• Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL
• Chennai Petroleum Corporation Limited (CPCL)
• GAIL
• Hindustan Oil Exploration Company Ltd (HOEC)
• Essar Oil
• Saudi Aramco
• Cairn Energy
• British Petroleum

Job Profiles

Job titles for a petroleum engineer are as follows:

• Drilling Engineer
• Production Engineer
• Chief Petroleum Engineer
• Offshore Drilling Engineer
• Reservoir Engineer

Role of Petroleum Engineers

• They develop equipment used for extracting oil and gas from the earth in an efficient way.
• Develop the techniques that can be used for enhancing oil recovery.
• They have the responsibility to ensure that oilfield equipment is working properly.
• They design technologies and new ways to recover the hydrocarbons.

Salary

Petroleum Engineering is one of the highest paid engineering jobs in the world.

As a petroleum engineer you will be working in countries and regions with high oil and gas production such as middle east, north america and some part of south asia.

The salary in this field depends on the variety of factors like qualification, experience and the employer. Major oil and gas exploration companies pay lucrative salary packages to the engineers, scientist and management professionals.

Entry level engineering graduates with zero to little experience are paid in the range between ₹ 5-10 lakhs per annum. For candidates with 3 to 5 years of experience, the salary is in the range ₹ 8-14 lakhs per annum. Experienced professionals having 5 to 10 years of industry experience typically earn anywhere between ₹ 15-40 lakhs per annum.

Large MNC’s like Saudi Aramco, British Petroleum, ExxonMobil and domestic companies like ONGC, IOCL often pay higher salary packages than the smaller companies.

In the US, the average salary of a petroleum engineer is $132000 per year. In India, the average salary of a petroleum engineer is roughly around ₹ 950000 per annum.

Books & Study Materials

You can refer these books for studying petroleum engineering:

• The Petroleum Engineering Handbook: Sustainable Operations by M. Ibrahim Khan, M. Rafiqul Islam
• Petroleum Production Engineering, A Computer-Assisted Approach 1st Edition by Boyun Guo
• Fundamentals of Petroleum and Chemical Engineering by Uttam Ray Chaudhuri
• Applied Petroleum Reservoir Engineering by Ronald Terry, J. Rogers
• Petroleum Engineering Handbook for the Practicing Engineer, Vol. 2 by M.A. Mian
• Petroleum Reservoir Engineering Practice by Nnaemeka Ezekwe
• Introduction to Petroleum Production by D.R. Skinner
• Principles of Petroleum Reservoir Engineering by Chierici, Gian.L.
• Fundamentals of Petroleum Refining by M.A. Fahim, TA. Al-Sahhaf, A.S. Elkilani

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