Engineering Salary Trends in the Petroleum Industry

Abstract

SPE Members Abstract Results of the 1991 SPE member salary survey indicate that salaries are up 3 to 5% compared to salaries reported in October 1990. Results of the 1992 SPE Starting Salary Survey reflect an increase in starting salaries accepted by B.S. graduates in petroleum engineering to $3,500/month, which is up 4.5% from a year ago. Introduction The purpose of this paper is twofold:to report the results of the 1992 SPE Starling Salary Survey for petroleum engineering graduates entering the petroleum industry from September 1991 through August 1992 andto report the results of the annual SPE Member Salary Survey based on data collected in October 1991. We look at the trends for both starting salaries for recent graduates and salaries for SPE members in various sectors of the petroleum industry, and we compare these salary data to those from prior years and from other industries. Where possible, we have interpreted the data and attempted to show how the engineering manpower trends in the petroleum industry may affect SPE members. As the authors of this paper, we present the results of both the SPE Starting Salary Survey and the annual SPE Member Salary Survey as additional data points in the trends on salaries, We do not forecast future salary points and strongly suggest it you do, you use the multiyear trends as a part of your assessments and recognize the hazards of extrapolating one-year differentials. SPE STARTING SALARY SURVEY The SPE Starting Salary Survey is conducted each year by the SPE's Engineering Manpower Committee. The 1992 survey was sent to all U.S. colleges and universities offering four year undergraduate degrees in petroleum engineering; this year, 16 schools provided useful data for the survey. The 1992 survey includes base salary offers accepted by B.S. petroleum engineering graduates between September 1991 and August 1992 for lower 48 U.S. employment. The median salary accepted by graduates having B.S. degrees was $3,500/ month or $42,000/year. The $3,500/ month salary figure represents an increase of 4.5% over the $3,347/month reported in 1991, which was the highest single-year increase since 1982. The 1990 median starting salary was $3,050/month. No data were provided to us this year for M.S. graduates. Fig. 1 shows the starting salary trend for B.S. graduates in petroleum engineering since 1983. Following sharp increases in starting salaries from 1975 to 1982, starting salaries increased quite slowly for the remainder of the 1980's. Starting salaries remained essentially flat for 1983 through 1988. This years increase of 4.5% indicates a slowing of the recent increases in starting salaries, with previous increases of 9.7% for 1991, 5.2% for 1990 and 5.5% for 1989. Starting salaries have increased 27.3% since 1988, from $2,750/month to this year's $3,500/month.