The minor in Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering is for students interested in the drilling and production of oil and gas. It allows students to understand and appreciate the relationship between petroleum and natural gas demand, production, and environmental impact. Students are exposed to the basic courses in petroleum and natural gas extraction, particularly regarding drilling, production, and characterization. Advising is available through the professor in charge.
What is Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering?
Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering is a field related to extracting hydrocarbon resources (either crude oil or natural gas) from subsurface reservoirs. As such, petroleum and natural gas engineers predominantly work in the upstream sector of the oil and energy industries, which comprises exploration, field development, well drilling, production and injection well optimization, and wastewater disposal and CO2 sequestration well planning. Once oil and gas are discovered, petroleum engineers determine optimum drilling and completion methods, monitor and manage production operations, and design reservoir development strategies. They are responsible for providing engineering solutions with global economic, environmental, geopolitical, and societal impacts. Petroleum and natural gas engineers work closely with geoscientists and other science and technology specialists. In addition to hydrocarbon extraction, they are also well-suited to solve complex problems in geothermal energy, geological carbon sequestration, hydrogen storage, wastewater disposal, and environmental remediation of soil, groundwater, and other geologic media.
You Might Like This Program If...
- You enjoy combining disciplines such as geology, physics, and math to solve complex problems relevant to society.
- You want to use science and engineering principles to assist the challenge of global energy demands.
- You seek a profession that offers national and international networking opportunities.
- You want to work in the field, performing sophisticated computer simulations or interpreting reservoir and production data.