Petroleum Engineering

Petroleum Engineering is the field that deals with the operations concerning the production and management of the crude oil and natural gas reserves of the world. Thanks to the large use of such reserves around the world every single day, petroleum engineering-related careers have an excellent pay scale and tremendous job opportunities all around the world, especially in a highly developed country like Canada. Other than the high-paying jobs, Canada also offers high-quality living at affordable rates along with a safe and friendly environment. All in all, a perfect combination of safety, high-paying jobs, and good work and play culture.

Petroleum engineering is a very popular field in Canada, ever since the 1920s. The boom of petroleum & energy happened due to the need for people to understand the field of energy and boost it for the nation's development. Even though the development and understanding of it were nationwide, Alberta is the most active in refining and extracting oil (and gas).

Eligibility Requirement for being a Petroleum Engineer

The educational requirements for being a Petroleum Engineer are not too specific owing to the lack of Petroleum Engineering courses in the country. Employees prefer candidates with hands-on industrial experience or other industry-related work experience that can qualify them for the job. Candidates with science-related degrees are often hired since even candidates who have a Petroleum Engineering degree are recommended to be knowledgeable in both mathematics and physics.

• Candidates should have a Bachelor's degree in Petroleum Engineering or a related field.
• They should be well-versed in Mathematics and Physics.
• Master's and Doctorate degrees are added benefits in this area.
• Candidates must have excellent communicational skills and logical reasoning powers.
• They should be licensed by a provincial or territorial association of professional engineers in order to practice as a Professional Engineer.
• They will be able to register after they have graduated from an accredited educational program as long as they have 3-4 years of work experience in the field.
• Ideally, they should clear a professional practice examination.

Job Prospects for Petroleum Engineers

There are various job opportunities for Petroleum engineers. In Canada, most of the Petroleum Engineering related careers are concentrated in the region of Alberta. But other opportunities are showing up in British Columbia, Manitoba, Newfoundland, Saskatchewan, and Nova Scotia.

Undergraduate programs for Petroleum Engineering are available only in Alberta and Saskatchewan and graduate programs in the field are found only in Newfoundland which offers the possibility of employers choosing candidates from other science-related fields for the job. People with hands-on industrial experience and expertise are often chosen for jobs despite their educational background.

Petroleum Engineering is made up of two sectors namely the Upstream sector which deals with the discovery, manufacturing, and usage of crude oil, natural gas, and shale gas reserves in the world. Whereas the Downstream sector deals with improving the quality of the products followed by their marketing and sales to various consumers of such products.

• Petroleum Engineers generally work in private industries which focus on coordinating and monitoring activities relating to the operation of various facilities within the different sectors.
• They can also work as Drilling Engineers concentrating on well-drilling techniques and equipment related to drilling and well construction.
• Reservoir Engineers take part in explorations giving valuable suggestions on the capacities of reservoirs and suitable good locations.
• Production Engineers deal with work-related to developing and monitoring production processes along with the usage of safer and better technology.

The increase in the consumption of oil has also maintained the number of job opportunities both in the public and private sectors. But the job prospects depend upon several varying factors like the demand for oil and natural gas, their cost, job vacancies available, recruitment criteria, and the progress of their occupation.

Career as a Petroleum Engineer in Canada

The major companies for Oil and Gas in Canada are Enbridge Inc., Suncor Energy Inc., Imperial Oil Ltd., Canadian Natural Resources Ltd., etc. Petroleum Engineers have been in high demand in the country since 2010. Out of all places in Canada, Calgary has almost 74% of all petroleum engineers in Canada and the companies that hold the best employees are St. John’s NL, Edmonton, and Toronto among others. People in the Petroleum Engineering field often work under the following job titles among others.

• Drilling and Recovery Chief Engineer
• Exploitation Engineer- oil and gas
• Exploitation Engineer- petroleum
• Mud Engineer
• Natural Gas Engineer
• Offshore Drilling Engineer

The minimum wage in Canada for this job is $31.25 to $82.05 per hour on average as stated by https://www.jobbank.gc.ca/marketreport/wages-occupation/2831/ca;jsessionid=53D077D50AF6B183BE651EFC0F20DDAB.jobsearch76.

Entering Canada as a Petroleum Engineer

While moving to Canada with a Petroleum Engineering degree or with plans to work in the Petroleum Engineering field, people must calculate their Canada Immigration points using the Canadian Comprehensive Ranking System. It is imperative that they apply for the Express Entry and recognize their prospects of entering the country by evaluating markers like age, qualification, English-speaking skills, French-speaking skills, and work experience. The total points that people should receive should be above 67 for them to have a smooth immigration experience.

Candidates can always immigrate to Canada without a job offer as long as they have a reasonable CRS score so that they can receive their Canada Federal Skilled Worker Visa. But at the same time, receiving a job offer would boost a person’s score by 600 points giving them easy entry into the country.

Irrespective of having a job or not candidates will be registered for a Professional Qualification equivalency process that will aid them in their endeavor.

Importance of Taking PEO License

The Professional Engineers Ontario or PEO is a regulatory body in Ontario that licenses the license holders that practice professional engineering along with companies providing engineering services. In order to be valued and chosen by distinguished companies in Canada, it is necessary that people apply for a license to PEO. Registering in the PEO has its own eligibility criteria and it is to be understood that candidates who have their PEO license or are eligible for the license tend to have better job opportunities in the field.

Work Distribution for Petroleum Engineering Jobs

People working as Petroleum Engineers are generally required to work in jobs relating to Mining, Quarrying, and oil and gas extraction along with architectural, engineering, and design services. The jobs people receive may be full-time or part-time. Petroleum Engineers are typically required to work all year but even those who worked for a part of the year worked for around 40 weeks when compared to the 31 weeks people work in other professions.

• Over 95% of all workers do a full-time job when compared to 79% in other occupations
• People who work part-time are less than 5% of the total when compared to the 21% for other occupations.

This states that the job is extremely demanding and requires people to have lesser openings if they prefer to work part-time. This is probably the reason for almost 14% of all employees in the field to be self-employed.

Why is Petroleum Engineering Popular?

Petroleum Engineering is one of the most sought-after jobs in the country. Though the educational expense for being a professional engineer is high, the salary scale and other benefits make joining this field worth it. The career opportunities that come up with the course are spread globally providing the candidates with opportunities to travel to places they want and settle with decent salary scales where ever they are.

The only challenges that are faced in the industry depend on the world’s dependence on petroleum-related products for energy production. The demand for skilled Petroleum Engineers is high all over the world and especially in the Middle Eastern Countries due to the competitive nature of the field and the demanding nature of the career.

The job also offers traveling opportunities for workers since they will have to work both onsite and offsite where the former will mostly be in remote locations. Projects assigned to workers will also be mostly located outside Ontario or Canada and so candidates will have the opportunity to experience different localities and countries as part of their job.

Petroleum Engineering is an adventurous field marked by the appearance of new challenges each day due to the ever-changing global requirements. Canada with its large number of oil and mining industries provides tremendous opportunities in this field resulting in maximum exposure required to become an expert.