Petroleum engineering is an amalgamation of all engineering disciplines. Full-fledged petroleum engineers must be chemical engineers; they must be electrical engineers, to some extent civil engineers and instrumentation and control engineers. They must know everything. In addition, they must know geology, geophysics, because they must know where the oil and gas reserves are underground, and how oil and gas moves.

Qualifications required for becoming a petrocrat is Diploma, B.Tech, M.Tech, MBA. The management cadre comprising of Marketing, Finance and HR functions are also increasingly being hired from the MBA batches. Being a technology-dominant industry, the traditional route of entry has been by getting a B.Tech or an M.Tech degree in any discipline of Petroleum Engineering.  However, with petroleum institute’s like University of Petroleum & Energy Studies (UPES), Dehradun and Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Petroleum Technology (RGIPT) opening up in the country, one can also get a specialised BBA or MBA in Oil & Gas sector to kick-start one’s petro-career. However, probing deeper, one finds that many of these MBAs have actually done engineering at their graduation level. One can be a Chemical Engineer.

Petroleum exploration, extraction and processing is a very technology-intensive process and therefore skilled manpower intensive. Worker level or unskilled people do not fit the bill and technical persons are required. Even if you are not in a technical job as such, a good understanding of the sector is required and a first technical degree helps. Each institute is employing a unique method to help its students stand apart. “Students work on an MBA dissertation or thesis, a strong 250-page document which they start working on immediately after coming back from their internship. So for the first six months, they would do the framework, analysis and in some cases even the data collection and in the last semester they analyse, bring in models, do some forecasting etc. On further inquiry, one comes to know that the OD (Organisational Development) and OB (Organisational Behaviour) courses, as well as Communication Skills classes focus on skill development. Hailing from India’s premier B-School for HR & OB - XLRI, Jamshedpur - Prof. Patel has evolved a unique methodology for students’ personality development. Lectures, conferences and summits where students get a chance to interact with industry experts are, of course, more or less the norm across these institutes now-a-days.

Petrocrats can be in the form of Geologist who tells about the Oil & Gas reserve. Geophysicist tells where the Oil and Gas is by conducting various surveys. Petro physicist evaluates the reservoir rock properties by employing well log measurements, in which a string of measurement tools are inserted in the borehole. Drilling engineer design and implement procedures to drill wells as safely and economically as possible. Other profiles are Process control engineer, Health and safety engineer, Reservoir Engineer, Mud Logging engineer, MWD Engineer (Measurement While Drilling), Well Testing analyst, Pipeline Engineer, Design Engineer, Well Stimulation Engineer, R&D Engineer. Sales Officer, Marketing Officer, Business Development Officer.

What petroleum engineers do?
There are three main areas which a student can choose within Petrochemical engineering to further his career:

1. Upstream: The upstream oil sector is also known as the exploration and production (E&P) sector. This includes searching for potential underground or underwater oil and gas fields, drilling of exploratory wells, and subsequently operating the wells that recover and bring the crude oil and/ or raw natural gas to the surface.  And it also includes searching for new forms of energy like Shale oil/ gas or oil from deep sea beds.

2. Midstream: This area of the sector processes, stores, markets and transports commodities such as crude oil, natural gas, natural gas liquids and sulphur.

3. Downstream: This involves the refining of crude oil and the selling and distribution of natural gas and products derived from crude oil. The downstream sector includes oil refineries, petrochemical plants, petroleum product distribution, retail outlets and natural gas distribution companies.

Opportunities – India & Abroad

Due to the increasing concern about the environment, interest has been generated in areas like nuclear energy and solar energy but these forms of energies have not taken off in India for a very long time. Hence, the focus is on petroleum energy which shall remain for a very long time. Another lucrative aspect of this sector is a relatively stable employment scenario. “Traditionally, employment in this sector is lifetime employment. For example, if one starts his career with IOC, he generally retires with IOC. It’s even so with larger international companies,” says Dr. Parag Diwan, Vice-Chancellor of UPES Dehradun, which according to him is the first petroleum institute in India. 

It is not only in the core Oil & Gas sector that petro-graduates are in demand. Another promising area is the IT companies with domain areas in Oil and Gas. Big IT companies like Wipro & TCS have verticals focussed on Oil and Gas, which is responsible for projects in these industries. They prefer people with IT knowledge and domain knowledge of the Oil & Gas sector. Secondly, there are a lot of companies into design of off shore structure, off shore drill well etc, which only petroleum engineers can do as they have these subjects covered in their curriculum unlike a Civil or Mechanical engineer. For example, L&T is a major company in this area. The remuneration, however, remains higher for the core technical jobs, in comparison to these allied opportunities.

Another interesting fact to note is that 30% of the petroleum engineers produced by India are working abroad. The student preference is clearly for international companies like British Gas and Schlumburger being in direct proportion to what they pay. Obviously, the perks too are on the higher side.

Remuneration

“Last year, the average salary was around Rs 4.5 lakh with the highest salary being Rs 10 lakh for the MBA batch,” says Bhavesh Patel, Director of School of Petroleum Management at PDPU. Parag Diwan, VC, UPES, Dehradun, agrees that the B.Tech holders have an edge over the MBAs in placements as it is a technology-dominant industry.

But there is a negative side also. Although, the salaries are very attractive, the conditions in which one has to work in the field are often trying. One can expect to be at an offshore drilling site like Bombay High, or in the desert regions, or even the hilly terrain of the North East with little company. In fact, the sector seems to have something in common with the Merchant Navy. It can be physically very demanding and social life is almost zilch.