This relates to a thread that I started 3 years back, but has subsequently been closed. Back then I asked about the likelihood of getting a role in upstream Oil & Gas at 43 if I did an MSc.

This is back on the agenda, but having researched this further I have discovered that I have a fascination with Well Engineering & Well Control.

RGU are the only ones who do a Drilling Engineering MSc, where as the norm is a Petroleum Engineering MSc. Given daughter starts A-Levels in September and is happy at her current school, Portsmouth is the nearest uni which offers the Petroleum Engineering MSc and a move is not going to happen before A-Levels are finished.

My only concern is that the reservoir engineering aspect is heavy maths and having not done maths for 20 years (Chemistry degree) it will most likely be too much?

Keen to understand whether to wait 2 years until daughter goes to uni and head up to Aberdeen or whether to go for the Petroleum Engineering MSc starting Sept and hope that the maths can be learnt in parallel.

Also like to know whether the Petroleum Engineering course will provide enough grounding for the well control and drilling engineering aspects.

Any pointers welcomed and if anyone might be willing to chat please PM me.

Thanks

I’d also be asking people in the same job what the career prospects are like – there’s probably a lot more competition for roles than there used to be, and experienced people too, unless it’s more about the learning than a job in it.

unless it’s more about the learning than a job in it.

It has become more about the learning as I need a new challenge from boring IT programming and this seriously interests me. I have been soaking up lots of the stuff online about drilling, casing, mud density, BOPs …

Considering there isn’t many drilling engineering specific degrees, and plenty of drilling engineers I’m sure it’s fine with the petroleum engineering msc

Though many come in as new graduates.

There is also specific well control courses. (Though this may be more suited to drillers, company reps. Etc. At least from the guys I work with on rigs)

Hi

I’m in oil and gas, albeit with a geo background rather than engineering. My view would be that you should undertake the study if it’s an itch you’ve got to scratch, but I’d not be optimistic about getting employment at the other end. The market is on its knees, particularly in the UK. There will be lots of other candidates looking for work with the same or similar qualification as you, but they’ll likely have the experience, which counts for more than the qualification. If you do get oil and gas work, it will mean travel, so you’ll be away from home, which may or may not be fine.

If you do go for the study, good luck, it will be interesting and you’ll enjoy it, but just be realistic about what happens afterwards.

Cheers

Neil

I’m in oil and gas engineering and it is pretty grim. It does seem like an expensive way to satisfy an itch. If you were to be offered a job you would be training with guys 20 years younger and willing to put up with worse conditions for less pay.
I was asked straight out in one interview how I would cope with a 36 hour shift. They are not pleasant… If you are supporting operations these happen 24 hrs a all year. A call at 6 am on a Saturday/christmas/partners birthday when you had plans which are now redundant sucks a bit.
There are some great aspects and some really interesting things to learn but as above be realistic on the opportunities that may come around.

Thanks for the replies all. I think it comes down to the fact that all jobs have a negative side to them. Sitting in the same office day in day out with a load of IT geeks has it’s fair share too! I find the whole environment really sterile and if you want a hands on job then O & G certainly seems to have that.

I am now thinking of doing the course part time. That way I have more time and can if required get the maths sorted out too.

I have also read that Oil & Gas is losing a lot of people because of the low oil price, but that won’t last and the other day I heard that the UK government need to accept fracking because of rising wholesale gas prices, so I reckon there is life in the industry for a while yet.

I’d be surprised if you wouldn’t need a BSc in Geology, first. I’m in a similar boat, although I have no interest in oil and gas: I thought about doing an MSc in geosciences, but all jobs ask for at least a BSc, usually followed by a masters and/or a PHD.

Those I know in the O&G industry say it is difficult at the moment, with little hiring. Personally, I’d do something a bit more general in Earth Sciences (you can always specialise later), to keep your options open. Hence, my BSc Geology.

Mike (aged 42 and 11/12).

My brother’s experience fits the picture given above he is a geologist mainly in exploration the industry is contracting at the moment and opportunities and vacancies are rare.

I’d be surprised if you wouldn’t need a BSc in Geology, first.

Don’t think any of the RE or PE I work with have a Geology degree – little evidence of it if they do 🙂

As others have said, if it’s an itch, maybe you need to scratch, but it’s a very tough job market right now. You won’t have the experience or the connections to dodge the queue.

Don’t think any of the RE or PE I work with have a Geology degree – little evidence of it if they do

😆

Ok, at least a BSc in something relevant, rather than going straight for the MSc, is probably more pertinent.

Not in oil and gas but up until two year ago I worked for a company selling and developing software that had to do well control valve so I have done a fair few to get the software correct.

Level of maths i would estimate at higher level GCSE. If you have done something like a level and understand basic calculus it would make understand the concepts easier but the maths involved is very simple equation manipulation solving etc.

Sorry i cannot help but having worked in oil and gas, albeit downstream mkting, best thing i ever did was get out. The oil price looks like it will remain lower for longer. Tbh the best baramoter of the industry would be house prices in aberdeen, sold not asking.

Has the OP thought about mining instead? A friend of mine on my course does test drilling for mining and that may be more resilient than O&G at the moment.

The oil price looks like it will remain lower for longer.

I think you are looking at a $50-$60 price potentially for a good few years and that’s what most majors are working to.

The O&G job market is nothing like it was, it might have picked up by the time you finish the degree but hard to predict.

Also remember the North Sea is a very mature area, so the UK will probably never be a buoyant as it was.

flanagaj – without trying to dampen the enthusiasm there is some very good advice above:

but I’d not be optimistic about getting employment at the other end. The market is on its knees,

If you do get oil and gas work, it will mean travel, so you’ll be away from home, which may or may not be fine.

opportunities and vacancies are rare.

Also remember the North Sea is a very mature area, so the UK will probably never be a buoyant as it was.

Thinking the situation will change in and around the UK is not something I’d bet on. There are opportunities, but there are plenty of good O&G geologists / engineers coming back to blighty after a stint abroad.

That in mind, geotechnical engineering is a market that will need a lot of engineers over the coming years. Similar subject, maths, bespoke and varied work. I’d suggest looking at that. Porstmouth also do a very well respected Engineering Geology / Geotechnical Engineering MSc. Plenty of drilling (smaller scale obviously) in that game too.

Depending on your academic/professional background OP, the wider ground engineering sector might be worth consideration. Portsmouth has a very well regarded applied geosciences group with MSc courses in subjects such as Engineering Geology. Graduates go on to work in the mining, petroleum, civil and renewable sectors. (declared interest: I teach on the course). Interestingly, we have been receiving applications from people working in the O&G, and Mining sectors, apparently wanting to re-focus their careers away from these sectors.

edit: I see neilfurrows post has been uploaded whilst I was typing – I concur with his comments.

Fossil fuels appear to be on the wane, are there any careers available in OnG? Why don’t you do something with your chemistry degree and see if you can get involved in battery or storage development?

The oil price looks like it will remain lower for longer.

I think you are looking at a $50-$60 price potentially for a good few years and that’s what most majors are working to.[/quote]

“Lower for Life” is the current pricing mantra that we’re working to. The days of $100 oil are gone, probably never to return.

I’d be looking hard at the renewables sector myself…….

Good luck with a career in oil, there are big changes in the way it will be used in the future. Gas still has opportunities if you are keen. The oil price crash has really changed everything and not just wages and jobs. Those that are talking up the oil price are wishful thinking or will need to cause Middle East war to get to $100/barrel. Pension funds and long term investors are reducing exposure to the industry particularly exploration companies, some of whom will never be able to get a return on investment. Having said all that, holes will still need drilling at some point. A Saudi oil minister (possibly) once said “the Stone Age did not end due to lack of stones, neither will oil age”.

The O&G recruiter I was speaking to last week was not very positive about jobs appearing any time soon. If you’re willing to work somewhere tough you might be OK, I was invited to apply for a job in Turkey, but 10 hours a day, six days a week, six weeks on two off, infront a computer, was not for me.

Owner of a chemistry degree here – I would advise against it – I Just left an O&G job in a “Dangerous” country. Little in the way of new work incoming, and the bigger paying danger money jobs are drying up fast and wont be coming back. Cheaper local labour is taking over in order to make margins, so options for travel are also drying up too.

Depending on your academic/professional background OP, the wider ground engineering sector might be worth consideration. Portsmouth has a very well regarded applied geosciences group with MSc courses in subjects such as Engineering Geology. Graduates go on to work in the mining, petroleum, civil and renewable sectors. (declared interest: I teach on the course). Interestingly, we have been receiving applications from people working in the O&G, and Mining sectors, apparently wanting to re-focus their careers away from these sectors.

edit: I see neilfurrows post has been uploaded whilst I was typing – I concur with his comments.

Solid advice right here.

On the bright side, the diving sector appears to be undergoing an upswing for some contractors in the NS. I was working with a field engineer who’d gone and done all his diving qualifications and was undertaking his first saturation. Have you considered a speciality degree in decomissioning?

I’m in oil and gas, albeit with a geo background rather than engineering. My view would be that you should undertake the study if it’s an itch you’ve got to scratch, but I’d not be optimistic about getting employment at the other end. The market is on its knees, particularly in the UK. There will be lots of other candidates looking for work with the same or similar qualification as you, but they’ll likely have the experience, which counts for more than the qualification. If you do get oil and gas work, it will mean travel, so you’ll be away from home, which may or may not be fine.

+1

It may pick up next year but I’ve got 8 years experience in the process design side of things and currently doing something else for just over minimum wage. That gives you an idea quite how shit the market is in the UK (and most of the world) at the moment.

If you’re worried about maths, then the default answer for any Engineer is K.A.Stroud Engineering Mathematics, and it’s sequels. Just get an old edition (think mine is 5th?) for about a fiver off amazon and work through all the problems, it’s dead easy to follow and goes from pretty much addition/multiplication/subtraction/division through the first and 2nd years of most undergrad engineering mathematics courses in such tiny incremental steps you barely feel like your learning anything. Takes about 80 hours to do each book though so a good way to test if you still have the self motivation for study!

Not at all helpful sorry, but I happened to watch the film Deepwater Horizon last night, and subseuqntly spent hours reading up on drilling, cement plugs, blow out preventers and such like. I agree, it is fascinating!

Deepwater horizon is a farcical film from start to end.

WRT job prospects, things are slowly picking up upstream. But remember that thousands of experts in their fields are currently out of work, as such any upturn will merely provide opportunities for these skilled, and more importantly, experienced personel.

Look the numerous companies and governments signing up to cease production of fossil fuel vehicles and the future doesn’t look too rosey for O&G…

I’m in the industry looking out don’t do it.

Many of us are running before we get pushed off the bus. I’m currently hiding in the last bastion of where my specialities lie – once this dries up ill be out on my tits.

Currently taking any cross training opportunities with o and g to broaden my horizons and applying for jobs outwith( degree qualified mech English) while I still have a job as I’ll be easier to talk a leaving the industry game than to be shoved then claim I wanted out anyway.

Don’t spend money to get in this game is my advice.

Some interesting posts on here and it’s all rather disheartening, but I can’t help thinking that reliance on fossil fuels is here for the foreseeable future.

You just have to look around to see that the clothes we wear, the plastics, the gas we cook with and heat our homes can’t be replaced anytime soon.

@flanagaj. I’d recommend that you take another look around at what’s happening. You are right, gas will remain in demand as will oil to a degree for a number of years but the changes in many industries like power generation have seen a massive reduction in fossil fuel use. Some of the worlds biggest fossil fuel users are making massive strides in alternative forms of energy. The pressure on countries after the Paris is actually getting somewhere (except the USA). Manufacturers are looking at reducing there exposure to the issues around fossil fuel use in the worlds largest economies. This may all look like small beer at the moment but things are moving fast, especially with countries that see this geopolitical issues that could expose them.

If you are not in the Trump fossil fuel (forever) end of the climate change debate, then it would seem that the emissions from all fossil fuel use will need to be stopped within the next few years (50 if we are luck but sooner). That will require everyone to be involved. I’d recommend looking at careers in power generation for electricity as being the future or some sort clean power technology, also carbon capture.

To reflect what has been said above, the industry is lower than a snakes belly right now, and frankly there appears little light, if any, at the end of the tunnel. Im lucky as i’m a nurse and can fall back into the NHS tomorrow if i need to (the pay cut makes me shudder though…), a lot of folk i work with know O+G alone, and have little transferrable skills. To give an idea the company i work for has seven rigs, 1 has had no work for 2 years, 2 no work for a year, 1 for 6 months. The 3 that have work will finish their contracts in September, October and the last one probably January. After that, nada. The future is bleak. I’d save your time and money and look elsewhere, renewables seems to the place to be if your skill set is applicable.

We will need oil for plastics etc but there’s quite enough in easy places like Saudi to cope with that demand.

On the other hand, every time the oil price reaches a high or a low we all tell ourselves “it’ll be like this forever”. And it never us.

That’s my simplistic view, anyway.

I’m not quite as pessimistic and O&G isn’t going to disappear soon. Yes electric cars will start to be popular in western countries, but that alone isn’t suddenly going to kill demand for oil. The bigger problem if you want to work in the UK is that most of the North Sea is a mature area and expensive, so there won’t be so many new opportunities. West of Shetland will see developments and possibly some stuff tied back to existing fields. But hard to see big new areas suddenly being discovered.

One of my best mates is a drilling engineer. Degree in Chemistry and another in Engineering. I think he has been in this game for about 15 years. Currently he has been unemployed for a year after Shell had a few rounds of redundancies a while back. This week he has landed an 18 month decommissioning contract which suits him down to the ground. We chat a lot about the industry as weirdly enough my sector is absolutely booming currently but in his exact words ” i wouldn’t dream of getting into this job now. Too many companies just want young graduates they can use abuse and burn through” Oh and he is the most upbeat person i know. He is just glad to be away from Shell. No hard feeling etc etc.

Absolutely Mac.

I’m watching them getting rid of all the non operational staff and pushing back the workload on the operational guys…

Want a visa? Go get it…..been refused it because you didn’t know how to fill in the form correctly(speak the language it was written in) and what stamps to get from which office in which order ….you get a bollocking.

Need to procure something….go get it… Oh we ain’t paying your expenses as you didn’t follow proceedure….well I’m not a procurement specialist am I…..

So those left just get demoralised and push back because they ain’t being supported to do their own jobs because they have to do that of the 5 specialists who know the local market well and get things done smoothly.

Surely that cannot be cost effective.