US companies scramble to find engineers for energy industry
Petroleum companies are trying to hire thousands of engineers to keep up with busting oilfield activity and a growing number of retirees, and experts say the trend is expected to extend into the next decade as worldwide energy demand grows.
By Agencies |
HOUSTON: Petroleum companies are trying to hire thousands of engineers to keep up with busting oilfield activity and a growing number of retirees, and experts say the trend is expected to extend into the next decade as worldwide energy demand grows.
Like star athletes, engineering students Julie Arsenault and Emily Reasor are prized prospects for the energy industry, which is experiencing dizzying demand for engineers.
"I've talked to quite a few of my peers, and we know we're in a good spot," Cornell University's Reasor said as she and Arsenault, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, took part in a weeklong recruitment program sponsored by Royal Dutch Shell's US arm.
Management consulting firm Oliver Wyman says roughly eight in 10 global oil and gas companies forecast a shortage of petroleum engineers through at least 2011. The American Petroleum Institute said US energy companies will need at least another 5,000 engineers by decade's end.
In Houston, home to scores of exploration, engineering and services companies, simply check the classified ads: Row upon row of job listings for engineers at ConocoPhillips, Marathon Oil Corp. and numerous others.
Petroleum engineers evaluate potential oil and gas reservoirs, work with geologists and other specialists to understand rock formations, determine drilling methods and then monitor drilling and recovery operations. One of their big tasks is to design methods that achieve maximum recovery of oil and gas. (
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