Petroleum Engineering - what is it?

Petroleum engineering is about producing hydrocarbons to fulfill the energy needs of the world. The source is the oil or gas trapped within the earth. It's a specialised area and a petroleum engineer needs to understand not only the physics, but also the environmental, economic and political issues.

Petroleum engineering is concerned with the upstream end of the oil and gas business, ie. Exploration and Exploitation. It is not involved in refining products, or distribution of the energy source. Petroleum engineering involves:

• exploration
• physical definition of the oil and gas trapped in the reservoirs
• drilling
• production
• processing
• transport
• economic assessments
• management assessments

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