The Role of Petroleum Engineers in the Oil Industry

Almost everyone in the world is dependent on oil. Petroleum engineers have the job of handling this oil and making sure it is being harvested in a fast and efficient way. This includes finding where oil is at and how to get it out of the ground. The importance of oil can cause plenty of conflicts shown by “Between one-quarter and one-half of interstate wars since 1973 have been linked to oil” (McLeroy and Honeycutt). This means that educating engineers to be innovative is necessary to a peaceful earth. This education started at Stanford University in the early 1900s and has become one of the highest paid jobs out of college. Being such a complex industry petroleum engineering can be split up into different sections such as drilling engineering, production engineering and surface facilities engineering, reservoir engineering, and petrophysical engineering. These graduates live in states such as Texas and North Dakota where a lot of oil can be found.

Without these petroleum engineers, America may not be in the position of power they are in now and with this power comes responsibility. Petroleum engineers have many responsibilities that they face every day, a few of them being reducing environmental footprint, controlling the price of oil, and improving the safety of their practices.

First, petroleum engineers have the task of reducing the environmental footprint of oil. The process of turning crude oil into a useful product can be broken down into two tasks, transportation and refining. Oil is mainly transported through pipelines and ships. These modes of transportation are controversial because they are prone to accidents. Spills are a common accident with statistics showing that “Using the U.S. Office of Pipeline Safety database, Nesmith & Haurwitz have estimated that 67 million gallons of crude oil, gasoline, and other petroleum products leaked from U.S. pipelines in the last decade” (O’Rourke and Connolly 601). Spills are not exclusive to pipelines, but ships too are told by “In the past 20 years, there have been over 30 oil spills of 10 million gallons or more each. One to three spills of this size occur each year” (O’Rourke and Connolly 599). Spills from pipelines affect life on land while spills from ships affect sea life. The oil releases chemicals that are bad for the environment and can lead to diseases in surrounding areas. These chemicals can kill off species of animals and their food sources. Petroleum engineers can fix this by transporting in a smaller quantity “(In the 1930s, large tankers carried about 20,000 tons of oil.

By the early 1970s, tankers could carry 800,000 tons of oil.) or changing pipelines more frequently (Many pipelines are used long after their engineering life span (an estimated 15 years)” (O’Rourke and Connolly 601). The more oil there is the harder it is to control the boat also if an accident were to occur there would be a smaller impact. Following the timeline for pipes is a common-sense fix that could decrease the number of cracks and leaks. Once the oil is transported it has to be refined. These are the factories that are used to make gasoline and other oil-related products. However, these factories also release chemicals in a variety of ways “Analysis of the TRI data reveals that the petroleum refining industry releases 75% of its toxic emissions to the air, 24% to the water (including 20% to underground injection and 4% to surface waters), and 1% to the land” (O’Rourke and Connolly 603). The toxic emissions to the air is a big problem because it can reach a large area and is unable to be brought back in once it is let out. Controlling these emissions can be achieved by following the clean water and clean air acts.

Next, petroleum engineers have to deal with fluctuating oil prices. Just like most things oil pricing is affected by supply and demand, but is especially true for oil and can have major negative consequences. Whenever prices are changing a major concern is the number of jobs being lost or created. Evidence for past price changes shows that “Higher oil prices would result in the higher output costs, results in lowered production rate and declined growth rate, which results in lowering of real wage rates, closing of production plants and increase in unemployment rate (Brown and Yucel, 2002)” (Ahmad 44). Many would think the opposite but the cost of keeping up with the supply of oil can have a trickle-down effect on the economy. This is shown through research “as results shows that increase in oil prices increases interest rate, which also results in the inflation in the country” (Ahmad 54). Petroleum engineers can help control the effects of oil changes to become more prepared for these changes.

Last, petroleum engineers are responsible for the safety of themselves and others on job sites. There are many dangers that come with oil that may be able to be controlled. Preparation is a common solution to many problems in this industry shown by “Requirements specifications are also typically incomplete in that they do not specify what needs to happen in exceptional “rainy day” situations or as a response to each possible event in each possible system state although accidents are often caused by the incorrect handling of rare combinations of events and states that were considered to be either impossible or too unlikely to worry about, and were therefore never specified” (Firesmith 27). There needs to be more uniform requirements for all oil sites instead of certain rules for specific areas so that unfamiliar conditions are not a problem. People in charge should also be held more accountable for not including these extra requirements and for going on in unknown conditions.

Oil is one of the most powerful resources in the world. Therefore, petroleum engineers have one of the most powerful jobs in the world. The challenges they face every day involve limiting environmental footprint, better prepare for oil price changes, and ensure the safety of workers. The oil industry can change drastically in a short period of time, leading to a need for proactive people. Proactive people can identify these challenges before they arise and create a solution. To make the oil industry the best it can be for the people and environment new and better systems need to be put in before it’s too late.