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Oil and Gas Careers

Many people associate oil and gas careers with hard manual labor, such as a construction job. While it's true a number of oil and gas jobs require physical activity under strenuous conditions, there are professional career opportunities available in this industry as well. Search for great oil and gas exam study tips here.

Many oil and gas careers require an engineering degree. For example, you can often find advertised openings for the following:

• Development engineers
  
• Planning engineers
  
• Construction and installation engineers
  
• Facilities engineering coordinators
  
• Well operations materials engineers
• Senior civil engineers
  
• Technical compliance engineers

Like any other industry, oil and gas companies also require administrative support staff to make sure the business runs smoothly. For example, the following support staff is required:

• Legal advisors and legal assistants help make sure companies are complying with all applicable laws regarding the energy industry.
  
• Accountants and tax specialists help make sure oil and gas companies are preparing returns correctly and paying all of their necessary income taxes.
  
• Stakeholder relations advisors have a background in public relations and use their skills to make sure companies are communicating effectively with investors and stockholders
  
• IT supervisors help make sure that the computer systems running various aspects of production do not encounter any technical difficulties.

Some of the top employers for people interested in oil and gas careers include Saudi Aramco, National Iranian Oil Company, Iraq National Oil Company, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, and Sonatrach.

Oil Careers

The oil industry, also known as the petroleum industry, focuses on exploring, extracting, refining, transporting, and marketing petroleum products such as gasoline and fuel oil. On a smaller level, people with oil careers also provide the petroleum needed for plastics, fertilizers, solvents, pesticides, and pharmaceuticals.

The top oil companies in the world today include the following:

• Saudi Aramco
• National Iranian Oil Company
  
• Qatar Petroleum
  
• Kuwait Petroleum Corporation
• Iraq National Oil Company
  
• Petroleos de Venezue
  
• Abu Dhabi National Oil Company
  
• Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation
• Libya NOC
  
• Sonatrach

Oil careers can be broken down into three categories: upstream, midstream, and downstream.

• Upstream jobs are oil careers that involve the development and production of crude oil or natural gas. Obviously, this includes exploration and drilling. However, upstream jobs can also include positions dealing with energy environmental services, pipe coating and inspection, production testing, safety services, equipment and processing manufacturers, and specialized trucking services.
• Midstream jobs are oil careers that involve working with the large pipelines that are used to transport oil and gas. These products need to be transported to processing plants, then to the consumer.
• Downstream jobs involve working at oil refineries, petrochemical plants, or natural gas distribution companies. This is referred to as the retail or consumer sector of the oil industry. Mechanical, chemical, and petroleum engineers work in the downstream area of the oil industry.

The qualifications needed for oil careers vary widely. Rig workers typically have community college training and on-the-job experience. Engineers, however, need to have either a bachelor's degree or a graduate degree in their field.

Last Updated: 03/25/2013