Petroleum engineering

The term oil and gas technology, internationally referred to as petroleum engineering, comprises a series of underground activities of various engineers, which are used in the production of hydrocarbons in the form of crude oil or natural gas. Typically, these activities are part of the so-called upstream sector of the oil and gas industry because it is rather a question of finding hydrocarbons and promote as to refine them or distribute, which in turn is referred to as the downstream sector. Geology and oil and gas technology are the two main disciplines of underground oil and gas industry both with a focus on the optimal economic exploitation of hydrocarbons from underground sources. The geology will be limited to provide a static representation of the hydrocarbon- bearing rocks, while the oil and gas engineering deals with the estimation of the recoverable volume of such deposit. This requires a detailed understanding of the physical relationships between oil, water and gas that are under high pressure in porous rock ahead.

The collaborative efforts of geologists and engineers determine throughout the utilization phase of a hydrocarbon deposit the manner in which the source is tapped and exploited. They usually have it a particularly high impact on the economics of the camp. The job description of the oil and gas engineering requires a good knowledge of many related activities, such as geophysics, geology, drilling, core analysis, business management, reservoir simulation, pump technology and oil and gas installations and equipment.

General

The oil and gas technology has developed to a professional whose job it is, under increasingly difficult conditions to win oil because the more accessible oil fields of the earth have been discovered and exploited. Further developments in the fields of computer models, materials, the application of statistical data and of probability theory have over the past decades alongside technologies such as directional drilling or enhanced oil recovery, or EOR process, the tools of oil and gas engineers improved significantly.

Because errors can have an impact in the range of several million dollars fast, high demands are placed on oil and gas engineers. As far as the technical challenges, underwater operations are at great depths comparable with the space program. This one has to contend with arctic conditions as well as extreme heat. High-temperature and high-pressure environments are almost commonplace now and require the oil and gas engineer the safe handling of such far-reaching issues such as thermal hydraulics, soil mechanics and intelligent systems.

Oil and gas engineers are often required to implement highly technical plans in hazardous conditions and coordinate the necessary staff extremely reliable. The drilling crew and the machines that are used here are in the implementation of each drilling program equally the extended arm of the oil and gas engineers. Understanding and consideration of such special communication demands in the compilation of these teams are in the process has always been crucial to this profession.

The Society of Petroleum Engineers is the largest professional organization for oil and gas engineers in the U.S. and published much information about the oil industry. The course of the petroleum engineers are available at 17 universities in the U.S. and in many other countries - especially in oil-producing states - but not only with the top producers there are comparable programs. In Germany these are offered, for example, of the Technical University of Clausthal and TU Freiberg, in Austria from the University of Leoben. Even some oil companies have remarkable training programs for petroleum engineers.

Oil and gas engineers are among the highest paid engineers ever since time immemorial; However, the opposite were always regular mass layoffs with falling oil prices. According to a study published in the September 2007 survey, the average annual income is 122 458 U.S. dollars. In an article dated June 4, 2007 Forbes.com that petroleum engineering reported to 24ter place of the best paid jobs in the United States stands.

Subdisciplines

Oil and gas engineers are divided into various sub- disciplines:

• Reservoir engineers ( reservoir engineers ) working on the optimization of the production of oil and gas. They ensure the optimal placement of wells, plan the different sections of the project and the use of enhanced oil recovery methods.
• Drilling engineers ( Drilling Engineers ) take care of the technical aspects of handling and Verpressbohrung.
• Operating Engineers ( Petroleum Production Engineers) form the interface between reservoir and wellbore. This includes the through hole, the control of sand, the pumping technique, the flow - control in the drill holes and other surveillance techniques. They are also responsible for the selection of devices that separate the extracted materials such as oil, gas and water at the surface.