Petroleum Engineering Programs Research Articles

President’s Column: The Importance of Supporting Academia and Students in Navigating the Challenges and Opportunities in the Industry

Editor’s Note: This is a summary of the May episode of the President’s podcast. We encourage you to listen to the episode to hear the full conversation. In this podcast episode, I am joined by Jennifer Miskimins, department head of petroleum engineering at the Colorado School of Mines, to discuss the importance of supporting universities and students through the challenges and opportunities facing the industry. I chose Jennifer to be part of this episode because of her extensive experience in both academia and the industry. This episode aims to delve into the status of petroleum engineering departments and the importance of students in shaping the industry’s future. I emphasize the collaborative effort required from universities, SPE, and its members to attract the next generation to the field. Our conversation revolves around the importance of addressing the challenges faced by petroleum engineering programs and attracting students to the field. I explain that the SPE Board of Directors recognizes the significance of universities, students, and faculty in the industry, including naming them as core constituencies in SPE’s Strategic Plan. Attracting the next generation is one of the top concerns among SPE members. Young professionals and students play a vital role in driving innovation and addressing future challenges, emphasizing the need for a full pipeline of talent to sustain the industry’s progress. I believe that students are essential for shaping the future of energy and fulfilling humanity’s needs, as they aspire to make a meaningful impact in the world. We need the next technical breakthroughs, most of which will come from the students in university today. They want to feel like they’re making a difference in the world. Jennifer adds, “What I frequently hear from students is yes, they want a long-term career but making a difference is very important. And they can do so. So hopefully, we can get more students coming our direction.” Although enrollment in petroleum engineering programs has fluctuated due to industry downturns and external factors like the COVID-19 pandemic, recent data suggests a modest increase in undergraduate enrollment, indicating a potential upswing. There are challenges such as the industry’s public image, perception of job stability, and declining enrollment in STEM education. Addressing these challenges requires reframing the narrative around the energy “transition” to one of “expansion” and highlighting the long-term career opportunities in the industry. We share insights into how universities are incorporating diverse energy-related topics into their curriculum, offering electives on emerging technologies, and engaging with industry professionals to provide students with real-world insights and opportunities. We also emphasize the role of faculty advisors and industry support in sustaining student chapters of organizations like SPE, which play a crucial role in bridging the gap between academia and industry. We further point out the critical role SPE members play in supporting students and universities through mentorship, financial support, and speaking engagements. Active involvement in student chapters helps bridge the gap between academia and industry.

More Students Going Into Petroleum Engineering Programs as Research Work Tilts to Alternative Energy

Oil companies are eagerly hiring petroleum engineering graduates, but the steep falloff in petroleum research funding is forcing a shift to alternative energy work. On the plus side, those connected with programs said most seniors have lined up jobs well in advance of graduation and some are getting multiple offers. Companies are competing for a small pool of talent, with 660 seniors expected to graduate this year, down from a peak of 2,615 in 2017, according to the annual SPE survey of colleges with petroleum engineering programs by Lloyd Heinze, professor emeritus at Texas Tech, who predicts that number will drop to 572 in 2025 based on the number of juniors. After that, enrollment looks likely to rise. There has been a 13% increase in the number of freshman and sophomore students, which is attributed to the strong demand for petroleum engineers. “Probably word of mouth is seniors getting jobs, and junior and sophomore internships is a big factor in the rise,” Heinze said. Another plus is that undergraduate enrollment is up at seven of the 10 largest programs surveyed in the US and the Middle East. “Almost everyone is up,” said Mashhad Fahes, an associate professor at The University of Oklahoma (OU), who reports that nearly all those approaching graduation have jobs in hand, often with multiple job offers. Internships were so widely available that OU had no takers for a summer program created to provide an alternative to paid internships a couple years back when those opportunities were scarce. Similar evaluations of the job market were offered by sources from Texas A&M University and The University of Texas Permian Basin (UTPB). In all cases, the jobs were mostly in oil and gas exploration and production. “They know that if they get a degree from our program, they can easily find a job in the area,” said Ahmed Kamel, an associate professor who is the department coordinator at UTPB. UTPB, which now has more PE students than OU and LSU, draws a large percentage of its students from west Texas who have grown up around the oil business before enrolling, and Kamel said many are working in the industry while in college. In addition to knowing the business, he said they offer another benefit: “Oil and gas companies want people from here who will stay here.” The program, started in 2011 as part of the business school, is now part of UTPB’s College of Engineering offering degrees in mechanical, chemical, and civil engineering. Its growth plan includes a petroleum engineering graduate program in the future, which will require increasing its research work. Kamel said that it currently has the research support it needs for teaching undergrads.

Reassessment of petroleum engineering education: Is it the end of an era or a new start?

Since emerging more than a century ago, petroleum engineering (PE) education has increasingly kept its popularity despite significant downturns in the industry. During these downturn periods, observed at least four times since the 1973 oil crisis, structural changes in university programs have been considered. While experiencing the fifth downturn period over the last five decades, it is time again to ask the same question: “Shall we continue with the same PE education model or radically shift to a new model?” In this paper, after reviewing more than fifty articles published over the last 85 years reporting the attempts made towards reshaping PE education, an option of restructuring PE programs is discussed. This option is less oil industry (and oil prices) dependent and more of a “general” engineering education program with an emphasis on the “geoscience” or “subsurface” engineering aspects of the PE discipline. The viability of the proposed program was discussed from industry, academia, and students’ perspective. Fundamentals are essential in this new program similar to other general (or major) engineering disciplines such as mechanical, civil, chemical, and electrical engineering. The critical elements of engineering skills such as creative design, decision making, problem description and solving, management under high degree of uncertainty, and data collection and processing for optimization are to be included in the new model.

Petroleum Engineering Continues To Drop, But There Is Talk of Better Times Ahead

For the seventh year in a row, the number of undergraduates in petroleum engineering (PE) programs is down, but that could be changing. Over the next year, Lloyd Heinze, a PE professor at Texas Tech University who has long done the survey discussed here, sees this downward trend slowing and then stabilizing in the next couple of years. There is no sure way to predict which majors undergraduates will pick, but there are some long-standing patterns to consider. Based on past long slumps for US programs, the decline line is nearing a point where it stabilizes at a low level for years, and when the industry lives off the surge in PE graduates that occurred during the previous boom years. But there is another trend that could change things. There has always been a strong relationship between class sizes and the preceding increases in oil price. The recent surge in oil prices to more than $90/bbl could signal a rebound, as it did early this century when it helped end the slump that dated back to the 1980s. If those two trends apply, it could mean “there will be fewer bachelor’s degrees awarded this year, and after that we will be back to growing ever so slightly. And then 2 years from now we will be overwhelmed,” by new students, Heinze said. So far, the survey is not offering evidence of a change from the down trend. The best indicator of the size of future graduation classes is the level of undergraduate enrollment. During the slide down, the number of seniors has been far greater than the number of freshmen. This year’s class shows that gap has narrowed. To stabilize it, the number of freshmen will need to far exceed the size of the senior class because another pattern is at work. Heinze said the number of freshmen and sophomores who say they will major in petroleum engineering drops by 30% per class year as these students realize what is required, which includes proficiency in calculus. Hiring Drives Enrollment While it is hard to deny the power of higher oil prices to increase oil industry activity, Heinze and others in academia contacted for this story point out that the ultimate driver is the industry’s appetite for new engineers. Students and their parents are looking for signs that the hard and costly job of getting a PE degree is rewarded with a job and a salary that justifies the effort. So far, those in PE programs are seeing an improved job market with demand for the graduates they are supplying. When Texas A&M announced a spring job fair, there was a strong response from potential employers, said Tom Blasingame, a professor of petroleum engineering at Texas A&M and 2021 SPE president. He said the market is much improved for students seeking jobs, but it is not like the boom days when multiple offers were common. “I do not believe that oil prices are going to help us significantly in increasing the enrollment,” said Mohan Kelkar, chairman of the McDougall School of Petroleum Engineering at the University of Tulsa, who sees oil companies sticking to conservative spending programs.

The Changing Role of Education in the New Era of Energy

To say that the next generation of workers and leaders in our industry will be confronted by challenges unlike any we have known before is likely an understatement. For the foreseeable future, the list below provides a glimpse of what lies ahead. - An industry whose engineering and scientific foundation are still valid and necessary after 100 years but whose aversion to change has left it struggling to catch up in some areas, most notably in digital transformation (although significant progress has taken place in the past 18 months because of the pandemic) - The paradox of a world that will use fossil fuels to meet a large proportion of its energy demand for the foreseeable future while addressing the negative public and political perception of an industry tied to global climate change - Oil and gas companies morphing into “energy” companies, and petroleum engineers and geoscientists increasingly becoming known as “petrotechnical professionals” (PTPs) - The reality that petroleum engineering roles have expanded to straddle upstream, midstream, and downstream, whereas petroleum engineering programs are mostly geared to upstream and, more particularly, reservoir engineering - The replacement of Baby Boomers with Gen Zers who have an approach to work styles, life, and values generally different from the workforce they will need to lead This labyrinth of challenges, which is raising anxiety and questions about the future of petroleum engineering (PE) education, generated much interest and numerous ideas in the “Future Leaders’ Challenges and Educational Road Map” technical session at the 2021 SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition (ATCE) in September. The papers in the session focused on what academia (and industry) can do to nurture the leaders of the future. A common thread was the need to enable students to not only sur-vive but also thrive as they transition into an evolving industry. The authors discussed issues they believe academia can control and govern—i.e., upgrading education and restructuring academic units—and issues such as demand changes, oil prices, and world politics that are beyond academia’s control. They also expressed agreement that certain elements within teaching and learning practices need periodic modifications—and sometimes serious paradigm shifts or even radical changes. Trends: What’s New (or Not) Paper SPE 205964 asked a rhetorical question, “Is it the end of an era or a new start?” Tayfun Babadagli, professor of petroleum engineering at the University of Alberta, pointed out that beginning with the first publication of an article on PE education in 1937, periodic reviews and evaluations—generally corresponding to industry downturns and drops in enrollment—have questioned whether PE programs should be removed from universities or restructured, depending on local conditions and industry needs. Following the 2014 crisis and a sharp decline in PE enrollments, several SPE papers suggested modernization options and changes in education that included options for local needs in certain geographic areas, field-based education, use of visual tools, and information technologies for smart wells and fields at a graduate (MSc) level. Inclusion of training in geothermal engineering was suggested in 2015. In the past couple of years, digital information sciences and new applications of PE sciences and subsurface storage and groundwater hydrology have been suggested.

Diseño del Simulador NODALB como estrategia para el aprendizaje en estudiantes universitarios

The following article aims to propose the design of the Nodalb Simulator as a learning strategy for students of the hydrocarbon production subject of the Petroleum Engineering Program of the University of Zulia, Núcleo COL. The approach was quantitative, the design was non-experimental, transactional; the projective level. The survey technique was used and the instrument was a questionnaire based on the Likert scale. The sample was defined by thirty-two (32) students. To determine the validity and reliability of the instrument, Crombach's alpha coefficient was used. The results found show very effectively that students reflect on their progress and look for opportunities to practice outside the classroom and that the teacher also helps them build connections between old and new knowledge. It is concluded that 95% of those surveyed said that the teacher always plans their activities for learning, reflection and helps them understand their learning processes, that is, that the Nodalb Simulator is of great benefit for student learning.

Fewer Grads + More Jobs: A Winning Formula for Job Hunters

The 2019 graduating class of petroleum engineers will mark the last gasp of a boom before a steep drop in the size of future graduating classes coming out of US universities. After a class of nearly 2,000 petroleum engineering graduates next spring, the graduation rate over the next 3 years will fall to less than 1,000 per year, according to an annual survey of US petroleum engineering programs by Lloyd Heinze, a professor at Texas Tech University. The survey includes primarily US universities. The numbers are a direct reflection of the sharp downturn in oil prices that began in 2014 and caused large downsizing among oil and gas operators and service companies. For young engineers looking for jobs after college, it represents a welcome change from the rocky job market faced by graduates after the industry switched into job-cutting mode. For employers used to having their pick of the top students since the bust began in 2015, it could mean being one of several bidders for a shrinking pool of graduates. Professors on campuses are seeing signs of improvement, but they caution that the evidence is more anecdotal than numerical. “A good number of seniors have jobs and a lot do not. One thing is that it is a big senior class,” said Karsten Thompson, department chair for the petroleum engineering program at Louisiana State University (LSU). It is too early for hard numbers but “there are more companies on campus with more students having internships and job offers.” “Internships went quite well this year. It looks like the recovery is under way. Students are much more comfortable,” said Erdal Ozkan, a professor at Colorado School of Mines. The job market is much improved, said John Lee, a professor at Texas A&M who also sees improved internship opportunities. Graduating Boomers The class of 2019 is made up of the last big crop of freshman enrolled back in the fall of 2014 when the bust killed the assumption that $100/bbl oil was a given. The nearly 2,000 seniors in the 2018–2019 class is considerably smaller than the past two, which exceeded 3,200, but it is double the size of three classes that follow. Texas Tech has 77 seniors now, compared with a peak total of 227 in 2014, and only 43 juniors following them. The junior class is 80% lower than the 2015 peak. That drop is an indication of Texas Tech’s decision not to limit petroleum engineering enrollment during the boom—only a few schools including Texas A&M and the University of Texas capped enrollment—and the quick reactions of a “population of students and parents who were faster to realize the downturn” because so many live in West Texas where the industry is all around them. Between the boom in the early 1980s—where schools provided a generation’s worth of exploration and production professionals—and the recent boom that produced many more grads, was a long, deep slump.

SPE Technical Directors’ Outlook: Do Good, Then Do Better

While leading initiatives to define and honor sustainability, Johana Dunlop said she is trying to balance “pride and accountability” in the oil and gas business. The technical director in charge of health, safety, and environment regularly points out that those in the oil business make the world a better place by delivering energy that fuels economic progress. She also cautions that the industry needs to pay close attention to influential voices from outside the sector when setting standards for running a sustainable business. Company earnings reports for 2018 showed that it was a generally good year for exploration and production, but the fall in oil prices late in the year warned against complacency in 2019. SPE technical directors all see room for improvement. Erdal Ozkan, director for reservoir, said that it is time to stop being satisfied with methods leaving behind 70% of the oil in conventional reservoirs. Terry Palisch, director for completions, said it is time to figure how to maximize production with the best combination of well spacing and completion designs in unconventional plays. Ramona Graves, director of academia, is seeing a world of petroleum engineering programs that need to start sharing ideas about how to produce better-trained petroleum engineers. Birol Dindoruk, director for management and information, wants to ensure that SPE continues to listen to groups pushing the industry to make the changes needed to maximize the value of its data assets. Jeff Moss, director for drilling, says drillers need to focus on finding ways to reduce drilling costs with efficiency gains using tools such as automation to be competitive during cyclic service costs and oil prices. Hisham Saadawi, director for production and facilities, sees great growth potential for natural gas, but innovative engineering ideas are required to address the problems that flow out of the wells along with the gas.

Dramatic Enrollment Shifts Plague Petroleum Engineering Programs

The sharp oil price volatility during 2014–16 is now being felt by US undergraduate petroleum engineering (PE) programs, where enrollment is in steep decline after hitting record highs at the onset of the price downturn. The number of US students pursuing bachelor’s degrees in PE programs fell to 6,263 in fall 2017 from 8,712 in fall 2016 as attitudes toward the discipline continued to shift, according to data compiled by Lloyd Heinze, PE professor at Texas Tech University’s Bob L. Herd Department of Petroleum Engineering. Enrollment in fall 2015 remained elevated at 11,069, slightly lower than a peak of 11,474 in fall 2014 when the oil price crash was under way—meaning it took 2 years before enrollment numbers began tracking oil prices. “Students are starting to realize the job market is very different from when they started out as freshmen,” said Heinze, who has followed PE enrollment trends for decades. A student who is slated to graduate with a BS in PE this spring, for example, likely enrolled in fall 2014 after West Texas Intermediate (WTI) prices had spent much of the year at more than $100/bbl. In their sophomore year, WTI cratered to $26/bbl before stabilizing in the $40-60/bbl range for their junior and senior years. With fewer students in the pipeline, fewer graduates are expected in the coming years, reversing an oversupply of those trying to enter the workforce. The number of undergraduate PE degrees granted is projected to plunge from more than 2,000 in each of 2015–16, 2016–17, and 2017–18 to around 1,220 in 2018–19 and 680 in 2019–20, Heinze’s data project. At 470 and 130, respectively, master’s degrees and PhDs granted are expected to remain somewhat elevated in 2017–18 compared with their averages during the previous decade. The steadier post-grad numbers may be supported in part by fewer available jobs. One Extreme to Another Heinze noted that Texas Tech’s PE department, like many PE departments across the country, is still reeling from the “tremendous overload” of students in recent years, a problem over which it had no control. “I can tell you that even if oil prices last year were $100/bbl, we were already on track to put out more students than $100/bbl can support.” Many public university PE programs are at the mercy of how many prospective students meet published admissions requirements. That is to say, programs cannot simply deny qualified students because those programs’ faculties, resources, and even lecture halls have become overextended. As a result, average undergraduate student-faculty ratios ballooned to about 46:1 in fall 2013.

E&P Notes (February 2017)

E&P Notes Petroleum Engineering Schools Begin To See Enrollment Declines Stephen Rassenfoss, JPT Emerging Technology Senior Editor Enrollment in US petroleum engineering programs has peaked and is on the downslide, matching the short-lived surge in the 1980s, when a generation of engineers were graduated. Lloyd Heinze, the petroleum engineering professor at Texas Tech University who compiles this annual survey, does not think the current downturn “will be as bad” as the one 3 decades ago. The big question is: Will that long trough be repeated after a decade where the industry stepped up its recruiting to hire college graduates in time for the many workers nearing retirement? That will depend on the level of industry hiring in coming years, which he said is impossible to reliably predict because hiring plans are subject to sudden changes. Four Misconceptions That Lead to Drilling Automation Failure Trent Jacobs, JPT Senior Technology Writer Drilling automation is one of the most promising emerging technologies that the oil and gas industry has to look forward to. The potential benefits span the spectrum from health and safety to lower costs and repeatable well results. But before this technology leaps from pilot to center stage, early adopters will be challenged to create new managerial strategies that improve the interaction of human crews with automated rig systems, according to one expert. “In all the projects that I have worked on, what I have found is that the issues involving people were much bigger than the technical issues,” said Bill Koederitz, chief technology officer at GK Plus Innovations, during a presentation at a recent SPE Gulf Coast Section event. Commercial GTL Project Opens in Southeast Texas Stephen Whitfield, Staff Writer Infra Technology, a company specializing in the development of synthetic fuels from natural gas, coal, and biomass, opened the first completed small-scale commercial gas-to-liquids (GTL) project in the state of Texas. Located in Wharton, a small town 60 miles southwest of Houston, the plant will produce synthetic crude oil from natural and associated gas. The Wharton plant is Infra’s first plant in the US. The company has been operating pilot plants in Russia for the past 7 years. Modularly constructed, the plant utilizes GTL technology based on the Fischer-Tropsch process, where hydro-carbons are created through a series of chemical reactions. The plant will operate in two stages. The first stage involves the production of synthesis gas (syngas) through a reformer that converts solid fuel into gaseous reactants. The technology processes feedgas with varying density, from dry methane to heavy gases. Energy Policy Uncertain in the Wake of Brexit Referendum Stephen Whitfield, Staff Writer With an uncertain future spawning from the Brexit referendum, the British government is seeking to maintain as much consistency in its energy policy as possible. A representative from the British Consulate of Houston said there will be changes to the way goods, services, and people move from the UK to the EU, and while very few concrete statements can be made about how Brexit will impact the oil and gas industry, investment in Britain’s offshore and onshore assets will be critical for the country moving forward. In a presentation hosted by the SPE Gulf Coast Section’s International Study Group, Cynthia Conner examined the potential challenges and opportunities facing the oil and gas industry in the wake of Brexit. Conner is a senior policy lead at the British Consulate of Houston and a member of the Global and Economic Policy Group at the British Embassy in Washington, DC.

Engineers Need To Learn From History Because the Industry Tends To Repeat It

In the 2 years since oil prices plunged, job cuts and retirements have changed the face of petroleum engineering. SPE’s membership mix has shifted to younger, with the biggest numbers in their 20s and 30s. “We have seen most of the older generation wiped out. It is pretty scary seeing the people being asked to leave” who have so much knowledge, said Tom Blasingame, the technical director for reservoir description and dynamics. There are still Baby Boomers left in the ranks, and they want to pass on what they have learned from experience. The seven SPE directors interviewed for this story began their careers during the long-lasting funk that began in the early 1980s and lingered through the 1990s. At last year’s SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition (ATCE) in Dubai, they offered their perspectives in a discussion titled “The Way to Move Forward is to Look Back.” While the oil market seems to have settled into a narrow range and the pace of layoffs slowed later in the year, these are still hard times. “Unfortunately a lot of people are losing their jobs; that is happening across the world and across the industry, even in national oil companies,” said Hisham Saadawi, technical director for production and facilities. “The perception is prices will remain like this now.” The pressure to cut costs remains intense, including personnel budgets. Even some top students from Texas A&M University are hearing from companies that “we do not have the budget to hire now,” said Blasingame, a petroleum engineering professor at Texas A&M, adding that for many, “the anxiety meter is off the scale.” Fewer students are enrolling in petroleum engineering programs in the US and elsewhere because it no longer ensures a good-paying job, with some schools seeing declines of 50% or more in their incoming classes. “There is no panic. I am sensing the biggest concern is the job situation for graduates. That is pretty tough in many places,” said Dan Hill, director for academia. For the faculty in many programs, there is a positive side to the declines in enrollment: the lowering of class sizes to more desirable levels.

English

Often students of the petroleum engineering programs at the early stage of their studies in institutions of developing countries do not have easy access to the oil and gas industry facilities. Multinational petroleum companies come in with the state-of-the-arts technology, with expatriates who work and leave without technology transfer. Laboratory equipment is very costly to developing institutions of petroleum studies in developing nation. As such, different hands-on models have been developed to simulate different processes of the oil and gas industry in the laboratory. This model captioned “Golden Horse Head” Sucker Rod Pumping model is one of such hands-on models that has been constructed and successfully tested. This model is 88 cm in length, 52 cm wide and 56.5 cm high. It was made using very basic local materials to represent the actual field components, for the purpose of better understanding of how such systems operate. The materials are very affordable and less costly. The overall cost of the model is about 75,000FRS CFA, that is, about US$150.0. This low cost of construction makes the model very affordable to developing institutions of petroleum studies. In this model, there was a reduction from the prime mover speed of 2000 rpm to the pumping speed of 38 rpm, giving a reduction ratio of 52.6:1. It has been tested with a multiphase fluid (water and oil (diesel) simulating crude oil) model, during which 75.4% oil and 97.7% of water were produced.  Its functioning accurately simulates that of a practical oil field sucker rod pumping facility.   Key words: Developing countries, oil well, model, low-cost, Sucker-rod, pump unit.

Multiphase Flow Correlation Applied to Qatar's Pipelines

Abstract Multiphase flow occurs in almost all oil and gas wells and production installations. The past three decades have seen intense efforts to develop empirical correlations and modelling tools to improve the ability to predict multiphase-flow behaviour with greater accuracy. The empirical approach typically involves flowing fluids at carefully measured flow rates through a pipe, observing the flow pattern, and measuring liquid holdup and pressure drop. Using the measured data, empirical correlations are developed for predicting flow patterns, liquid holdup, and friction factor, and a pressure gradient equation is developed that uses these empirical correlations. In its operations on Al-Khalij field, which is operated under a Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) with Qatar Petroleum (QP), Total E&P Qatar experience multiphase flow in main production lines, with a resulting pressure loss which has to be accurately predicted. As part of the Qatar Science & Technology Park (QSTP), Total Research Centre - Qatar (TRC-Q) has research collaborations with different partners. In this work, we present the results of a joint research project between the Petroleum Engineering program at Texas A&M University in Qatar and the Smart Metering Project team from TRC-Q. A literature review of available multiphase flow correlations has been performed first. Secondly, limitations and range of applicability of these correlations were evaluated. We then identified the most applicable correlation to specific conditions of a pipeline in Qatar's Al-Khalij field. This included gas-oil-water flow in a large-diameter multi-kilometre-long pipeline which passes through a hilly terrain (slightly deviated from horizontal). Our Analyses show that Beggs and Brill set of equations estimates pressure gradient with the least error among other correlations for these conditions. To improve the correlation's accuracy, we divided the pipeline into several segments with an optimum length to minimize the error and ensure computation efficiency. We developed a code to implement this correlation to simulate the multiphase flow inside the pipe. We could obtain pressure and phase flow rates along the pipeline. Also, a sensitivity analysis of some key parameters was performed. The model provided good agreement with measured pressure at the end of the pipeline.

Benchmarking Industry Talent Needs

Talent & Technology Since 2004, Schlumberger Business Consulting (SBC) has produced the SBC Human Resources (HR) Benchmark to assess the global supply and demand for petrotechnical professionals (PTPs; covering geosciences and petroleum engineering disciplines) and highlight best practices in talent management. This annual survey has become the reference point for industry professionals who seek talent strategies that have a measurable impact on business results. The survey has found its place within the SPE Talent Council,* whose members, some of whom participate in the survey, use the results as a basis for discussion to identify potential areas of industry collaboration to improve the quantity and quality of talent available. The SBC copyrighted The Supply Chain of Talent (Fig. 1) is the cornerstone of the SBC HR Benchmark. This framework was established by SBC to provide a holistic and systemic way to understand and address overall HR challenges in the industry. Many SBC clients today adopt The Supply Chain of Talent in their HR planning and management processes to address difficult HR issues that have proven complicated in the past. Addressing all these HR components in an integrated way has resulted in a higher impact than a piecemeal approach. The 2009 Benchmark results were presented during the annual SBC HR Forum in December. More than 20 global companies comprising national oil companies (NOCs), majors, independents, and 70 universities, which offer geosciences and petroleum engineering programs, participated in the survey. Three major observations were made based on the survey findings: In the recent economic downturn, international oil companies (IOCs) decreased their recruitment targets more than NOCs, putting university oil- and gas-related programs at risk and possibly creating future talent gaps. Oil and gas companies have taken steps to adjust their demographic profiles. Coaching is a valuable tool to reduce the time to autonomy for PTPs. *The SPE Talent Council was formed in 2007 to provide a forum in which industry, academia, and nongovernmental organizations could collaborate on initiatives to increase the quantity and quality of talent available to the industry.

Guest Editorial: Industry Must Showcase Its Strengths, Support Universities

Even old-timers like me who, with age and experience, have become cynical about the predictability and stability of the oil and gas market are grudgingly admitting that the present price regime is likely to be around for quite some time. The drivers of this market are economic progress in countries that have huge growth capacity and the financial means to pay for the energy that will fuel it, as well as the global awareness of the need for cleaner energy. While higher prices have stimulated investment in the industry, they also have created a new set of market dynamics that have upset the equilibrium that existed just a few years ago. The manifestations of this imbalance are shortages; higher prices and long waiting times for materials, equipment, and services; shortages in refining capacity; public discomfort with rapid price changes; and stiff competition for the limited available trained human resources and skills. This article addresses the longer-term issues of skills availability, in terms of both technologies that will enable the extraction of more oil and gas from available conventional and unconventional sources and the people who will execute these technologies. Over the last 2 years, the shortage of technical skills has become a concern of many in the industry. High starting salaries and sign-up bonuses are used as enticements for attracting talent. But these do not increase the pool of available people; they only cause a shift in employment. The longer-term approach has been to hire nonpetroleum engineers and give them in-house training. In fact, the combined number of mechanical and chemical engineers hired by our industry is higher than petroleum engineers. But the shortage of engineering talent is not limited to our industry; it persists in many other industries as well. There is a dire need for a long-term solution to this problem. The Demographic Challenge This issue should be addressed in light of the following:The need for trained technical people in the oil and gas industry is expected to grow by around 30% over the next 10–20 years.At the end of 2005, the average age of an SPE member was 48. That suggests that within the next 10–20 years, more than 50% of the present workforce will be exiting the industry.Within the younger and more idealistic age group, the industry's image needs great improvement. This has limited our ability to attract the best and the brightest who are needed to face and overcome the enormous challenges of the future.The capacity of universities to train petroleum engineers has decreased over the last 2 decades. In the U.S., enrollment in petroleum engineering programs is now less than 20% of its peak 2 decades ago. Either directly or indirectly, the training of many technical people working in the oil and gas industry is U.S.-based. The limited enrollment in the U.S. will have adverse global effects in the future.The U.S. has severely limited the granting of student visas to Middle Eastern applicants. As citizens of these countries seek education opportunities outside of the U.S., there will be a gradual shift in the culture of our industry.

Discussion of "Equivalency of International Petroleum Engineering Programs"

Discussion - No abstract available.

Response to discussion of "Equivalency of International Petroleum Engineering Programs"

Reply to discussion - No abstract available.

Equivalency of International Petroleum Engineering Programs

Study - No abstract available.

Know-How and Nationalism: Colombia's First Geological and Petroleum Experts, c. 1940 - 1970

Despite its vital role in Latin America's ongoing struggle for economic development, Latin-American scientific and technical education remains a neglected topic among historians. Authors also tend to view it in simplistic terms. While some have seen scientific and technical institutes as agents of Latin America's “dependency” on the North Atlantic world, others have seen them as vehicles of Progress, or have stressed the way in which graduates (scientists and technical professionals) have acted as “anti-dependency guerillas.” Evidence from Colombia, however, confounds any simple view. The founding of the country's first program for geological and petroleum engineers at the National School of Mines in Medellín reflected nationalistic desires to increase Colombian control over the oil industry and subsoil resources in general. Yet, Colombia's national energy policies have not led to state control of the industry as in the case of other major oil-producing countries, i.e., Mexico. What explains this apparent gap between desires and deeds? The following essay seeks an answer by tracing the origins of the geological and petroleum engineering program as well as the ideas and activities of graduates who have been directly involved in developing their country's oil and other resources. Above all, it highlights Colombians' pragmatic approach to development concerns.

The State of R & D in the Petroleum Industry (includes associated papers 31055 and 31158

This is a brief paper which describes the current state of expenditures in the areas of research and development in the petroleum industry and the associated support industries. It tracks the decline in research in the US with that of other countries. It also shows graphically how the research and development expenditures, as compared to other major US industries, is on the decline. It goes on to compare the methods of utilizing these research funds between petroleum companies to show that most research and development comes directly from a need of the company at a particular point in time. The paper closes by providing recommendations for a long-term research and development operation of the overall petroleum industry.