Engineering
Petroleum Engineers
Devise methods to improve oil and gas extraction and production and determine the need for new or modified tool designs. Oversee drilling and offer technical advice.
Median salary
$141,280
Typical range
$79k – $229k
Job outlook
+1% (about average)
AI exposure
Plan a path to Petroleum Engineers
Education
Typical entry: Bachelor's degree
Plan my path to this →Typical progression
Petroleum Engineers Intern
Internship
$39,420
~4 mos to advance
Junior Petroleum Engineers
Entry / Junior
$78,840
~2 yrs to advance
Petroleum Engineers
Established
$141,280
~3 yrs to advance
Senior Petroleum Engineers
Senior
$185,035
Internships are a common on-ramp here — they speed up landing that first role and improve your odds, which is why the Safe and High-ceiling plans build one in.
Key skills
A typical day
- •Specify and supervise well modification and stimulation programs to maximize oil and gas recovery.
- •Monitor production rates, and plan rework processes to improve production.
- •Maintain records of drilling and production operations.
- •Analyze data to recommend placement of wells and supplementary processes to enhance production.
- •Assist engineering and other personnel to solve operating problems.
Fields of study
Any field
Top colleges for Engineering
Explore all- Massachusetts Institute of Technology4% admit · $124,000 grad pay
- Stanford University4% admit · $122,000 grad pay
- University of California, Berkeley11% admit · $97,000 grad pay
- Georgia Institute of Technology16% admit · $99,000 grad pay
- University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign45% admit · $80,000 grad pay
Reputation-based selection; stats shown are outcome data per school.