Is petroleum engineering the only profession needed in the petroleum industry?

Greetings friends of the scientific and academic community that support my content related to petroleum engineering.

On this occasion I would like to explain to you the way the oil industry is organized due to all the disciplines that are part of the great work that is done at field level, taking into consideration the great contribution that petroleum engineering makes as that profession that brings knowledge to the oil industry in order to efficiently execute hydrocarbon exploration and production activities.

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As we see in the previous image, in which through geotechnical engineering many other branches such as engineering geology derive, in the same way engineering petroleum is a discipline that derives from another, and that in turn from engineering petroleum also derive other branches.

In this sense of the derivation arises an understanding of humanity to associate and understand all these branches as the perfect set of disciplines to collaborate as multidisciplinary professions that are combined in a knowledge and valuable contribution for the oil industry can efficiently execute its operations in the area of exploration and production of oil and natural gas.

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In the previous image we can see a professional of the geology exercising his more basic labor activities, that is to say carrying out a lithological recognition in the superficial area, this does that they can get to recognize the fluvial and lacustrine environments that could be in the geologic past of the studied zone, everything with the intention of being able to discern if the area can have petroleum in the subsoil.

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This is a clear and practical example in which the oil industry was developed based on what was contributed by various professionals from the scientific and engineering point of view, as is the case with the example previously explained, such as geologists.

However, after all this geological recognition, another professional was needed to be in charge of drilling multiple wells, which together would be the hydrocarbon production area, and this is where the need to prepare the professional we know today as an oil engineer arises.

How can we conceptualize petroleum engineering based on the knowledge acquired in this profession for the contribution to the petroleum industry?

Petroleum engineering is undoubtedly a branch of engineering, I would even dare to say that it is born from geology to a certain extent, it perfectly combines science and practical knowledge that help to develop the most appropriate techniques so that the areas where oil is found can be discovered, produced from the subsoil and stored in tanks where it will later be taken to be refined.

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From the time that we oil engineers are trained at universities until we acquire some professional and work experience we accumulate a series of knowledge that goes from the knowledge of engineering, under which the techniques and technology come from the various fields of science.

The petroleum engineering as a profession can be catalogued as a dynamic discipline and of constant innovation, reason why the professionals in this area have to be developing and updating constantly, this is due to the fact that the current world demands many resources among them the petroleum and the natural gas, also due to the fluctuation of the prices of the petroleum when it lowers his prices the exploitation of the petroleum becomes more expensive with the current techniques, reason why the professionals of the area must innovate to find less expensive techniques for the extraction of the petroleum and the natural gas.

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Various professionals working together on petroleum exploration and production objectives (multidisciplinary teams)

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There are several reasons that make the oil industry is full of diverse professionals, including computer engineers, mechanical engineers, environmental engineers, geologists, petroleum engineers, among others.

These reasons are based on the fact that the oil industry has a wide sense of phases to be able to explore and find the hydrocarbon, then drill the wells that will serve as a means of communication to transport the oil from the subsoil to the surface, it seems an easy task but in reality it is quite complex, since nothing else covering the exploration and production we need geologists for the exploration and production.

Geologists along with petrophysicists evaluate areas for traces of a geological past that indicate oil discovery, then even when drilling is going on they also need geologists to analyze formation cuttings samples, and with this know the geological formations that are being crossed and have data for drilling other wells in the same oil field.

Mechanical engineers do their job in this journey within the oil industry, as they are in charge of the maintenance and design of all the machinery needed for the drilling of the wells and the production methods, for example having to work to restore the electricity generators of a camp, to fix a mud pump when it is damaged while drilling the well.

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Due to the diverse updates in the computer technology area, and taking into consideration that the oil industry needs to use computers for practically everything that is done, from data transmission, reports, running computer programs, among others, then it is also necessary to function as a computer engineer.

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Conclusion

As we could point out in this article, the petroleum engineering is the great protagonist in the scene of the development of the oil industry, nevertheless everything is really positive as long as it is possible to conform a multidisciplinary group that includes all the professionals who can be developed correctly to contribute scientific knowledge, of engineering, new techniques with which the process of exploration and production of hydrocarbons can be optimized.

Observations

• The cover image was created using Microsoft Power Point 2010 design tools with one of the templates provided by the program.

Recommended references for further reading

Advancing Multidisciplinary Training and Development for Young Professionals in the Oil and Gas Industry

Managing Data & Knowledge: Multidisciplinary teams, integrated software for shared-earth modeling key E&P success

Geo-Teams Prove Their E&P Value