The minor in Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering is for students interested in the drilling and production of oil and gas. It provides an opportunity for students to understand and appreciate the relationship between petroleum and natural gas demand, production, and their environmental impact. Students are exposed to the basic courses in petroleum and natural gas extraction, particularly as they relate to drilling, production, and characterization. Advising is available through the professor in charge.
What is Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering?
Petroleum and natural gas engineers solve crucial problems related to one of the most important resources for society today: energy. It's a dynamic field that allows graduates to work in a range of environments, from the Marcellus Shale regions in the Northeast, to offshore sites in the Gulf of Mexico. The work can involve getting your hands dirty in the field or working in an office, planning out how to overcome obstacles related to drilling, production, evaluation, transportation, and storage—the entire scope of the energy extraction industry. Petroleum and natural gas engineers have the important job of assessing, locating, and extracting fuel resources while adhering to environmental standards. Petroleum engineers are also well suited to solve complex problems in aquifer cleanup of inorganic and organic contaminants and in design of geothermal energy extraction.
You Might Like This Program If...
You want to use science and engineering principles to address the technological challenges of the petroleum and natural gas industry.
You like traveling both within the U.S. and internationally, and working outside including in unique settings such as offshore rigs.
You enjoy combining disciplines such as geology, physics, and math to solve problems, and using technical skills both in the office and in the field.