Kemp: Peak Petroleum Engineer? Or Still Time To Join The Boom?
By 2013, there were almost 35,000 petroleum engineers recorded in the BLS Occupational Employment Statistics, up from just 11,600 ten years earlier and fewer than 9,000 in 1997.
Enrolments at U.S. universities in graduate and postgraduate engineering programmes with a petroleum focus have more than doubled since hitting a low point in the late 1990s.
Absolute numbers of new graduates remain small, though they are rising quickly, as shown by the enrolment numbers published by the federal Department of Education.
The majority of the growth in numbers has come from many older petro engineers postponing their retirement, and engineers from other specialisms are transferring into oil and gas, in response to the strong financial incentives.
The shift is not surprising when petroleum engineers earn so much more than those in other high-paying specialisms like aero engineering ($104,000), computer hardware ($104,000) and nuclear technology ($102,000) let alone those in lower paying areas like chemical engineering ($96,000), electrical engineers ($89,000) and civil engineers ($81,000).
In case you were wondering, in professions outside engineering, lawyers make an average of $114,000, accountants average $65,000, and journalists take home just $36,000, or nearly twice that if they work in television.
Maturing Cycle
Adam Smith's invisible hand is gradually working, drawing more people and resources into the sector, albeit slowly and with a delay.
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