There's that light on your dashboard again; it always seems to come on when you're running late! Where's the nearest gas station?
Luckily for most of us, a convenience store with a gas pump is never far from reach, thanks in part to the thousands of petroleum engineers working behind the scenes and around the clock to supply gasoline at levels that meet the demand for it.
What kind of degree in petroleum engineering should you get?
Undergraduate programs and doctoral degrees generally lack significant differentiation, with most schools offering only one program at these levels.
Petroleum engineering degrees at the master's degree level, however, can be master of science or master of engineering degrees. While broadly similar, these programs will serve students with different professional needs.
A master of science in petroleum engineering will focus on performing research. Students' coursework helps to improve their familiarity with either petroleum engineering theory or research methods they can use to improve the quality and efficiency of their research.
A master of engineering in petroleum engineering, meanwhile, builds skills for engineering practice. These programs often involve an engineering project, enabling students to demonstrate the skills they have learned over the course of the program. Some such programs allow students great flexibility in the courses they take, allowing them to improve their familiarity with petroleum as a business or other disciplines that will improve their career prospects.
Accredited Online College Programs
Explore our featured online programs and find the right match for you today.
What can you do with a degree in petroleum engineering?
Petroleum engineers have many different titles depending on which aspects of the extraction process they specialize in. Common specializations include completions, drilling, and production.
Completions Engineer – Completions engineers look at how wells should be built to extract as much oil as possible. They use tubing, hydraulic fracturing, pressure control, and other techniques to optimize extraction.
Drilling Engineer – Drilling engineers find reliable, cost-efficient ways to drill down to reach oil. They must also account for safety and environmental impact.
Production Engineer – Production engineers oversee the work done at completed oil wells. They monitor current extraction rates, and recommend changes or maintenance if a well fails to produce as much as expected.
How much can you make with a degree in petroleum engineering?
Petroleum engineer salaries came in at more than $100,000 per year in 2018, translating to an average hourly pay of just under $50, according to Payscale.com. Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows even higher salaries, close to $140,000, for a median pay of about $65 per hour.
Growth prospects in petroleum engineering also look positive for the foreseeable future. The field should add about 5,000 jobs over its 2016 numbers by 2026, showing growth that significantly outstrips the national average. Changes in oil prices, however, could significantly alter this figure.
The best petroleum engineering degrees
The rankings below highlight some of the best programs we've found in petroleum engineering. Each program offers high academic quality and return on investment, and students report high satisfaction. These programs typically have solid ratios of students to faculty, and graduates report incomes that justify the cost of the program.
Several sources provided the information used in these rankings. Some data comes from a poll by the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA. This polling information has been combined with data from publicly-available sources, such as U.S. News and World Report, the National Center for Education Statistics, and PayScale.com.
Rankings
See our rankings methodology page.
