If your future career goal is to design offshore oil and gas facilities, then the only choice of the three areas of study that will allow you to reach your goal is "Advanced Structural Engineering".
Petroleum Engineering is interested in the extraction of hydrocarbons (crude oil and natural gas) from the ground. Petroleum Engineers are not involved in the design of offshore platforms or ground based facilities such as refineries and petrochemical plants. While your Civil Engineering background will be of value no matter what career you pursue, you will be starting from scratch if you decide to get an advanced degree in Petroleum Engineering. Also be aware that employment as a Petroleum Engineer is very volatile. In the last several years in the United States, we have seen many Petroleum Engineering students switch to Civil Engineering or Mechanical Engineering in order to find employment upon graduation.
Subsea Engineering (not related to offshore structures and facilities) is more related to Mechanical Engineering and Petroleum Engineering than Civil/Structural Engineering. Again, you would find yourself starting from scratch.
If you want to design offshore (or onshore) oil and gas facilities, your best course of action is obtain an advanced degree in Structural Engineering. If you look at the engineers who design and construct offshore (and onshore) oil and gas facilities around the world for companies such as Bechtel, Fluor, McDermott, etc., you will find that they are Civil Engineers who specialized in structures in their academic careers. You will find that most will have advanced degrees in Structural Engineering. Structural Engineering in the oil and gas industry is highly specialized. To begin a career in this industry, you need a strong background in Structural Engineering – analysis, design, materials, etc. You will learn how to design these specialized structures by working for the companies that design and construct these structures. Generally in the oil and gas industry, the business model most used is Design-Build. The companies who design these structures are also the companies that build these structures. Because of this, the Structural Engineers in these companies have extensive knowledge in both Structural Engineering and Construction Engineering. You will find that Structural Engineers in the Oil and Gas industry are more well-rounded and more practical because they understand how the structures they design are constructed.
I am a Structural Engineer who has designed and constructed oil and gas facilities all over the world for the last 40 years. I have an undergraduate degree in Civil Engineering with a specialty in structures and an advanced degree in Structural Engineering. I have never regretted by decision to enter the field of Structural Engineering.
I wish you the best of luck in obtaining your career goals.
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James Soules PE,SE,PENG,SECB,FASCE
Spring TX
(281) 251-2950
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Original Message:
Sent: 02-15-2019 09:38
From: Solomon Raj Stephens
Subject: Is Petroleum Engineering a good option after BE Civil?
Hi Sir,
Thank you So much for your valuable advice. It helps me a lot.
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Solomon Raj Stephens SMASCE
Tubli
97339052884
Original Message:
Sent: 02-14-2019 23:24
From: Stephen Balint
Subject: Is Petroleum Engineering a good option after BE Civil?
Hi Solomon,
The decision to shift into Petroleum engineering or not depends on your career objective. An advanced degree in Petroleum engineering, coupled with your undergraduate degree in CE would likely give you a very strong base of skills to enter the industry. With a Petroleum degree, you are likely to focus more on the reservior/wells side of things, where as with the Structures Masters you may focus more on the floating facilities. Both can be fun and fulfilling. With respect to later in your career, I've noticed that a lot of project managers for offshore facilities are civil engineers, and I think that is because this discipline traditionally is the one that ties together all the mechanical, electrical, instrumentation, chemical activities on a platform, whereas a lot of organizational management has Petroleum Engineering background. (These are generalizations, of course, I did both in my career with degrees in Civil Engineering). I think you can be successful with either choice, it's more identifying what excites you the most.
If you choose to leave the oil & gas industry for another, I would think the advanced structural degree would be more portable.
Hope that helps. I wish you good luck.
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Stephen Balint PE,DOE,FASCE
Balint Consulting LLC
Houston TX
(713)997-0007
Original Message:
Sent: 02-08-2019 13:30
From: Solomon Raj Stephens
Subject: Is Petroleum Engineering a good option after BE Civil?
I'm a Civil Engineer working in Bahrain. I'm doing my Masters in Oil and Gas Structural Engineering (online) in University of Aberdeen. As I'm not able to balance both work and studies, I decided to quit work and study full time on Campus, but unfortunately, I'm not able to find an on campus course specialized in offshore structural engineering, so I have three courses in my mind to do on-campus.
1. Petroleum Engineering ,
2. Subsea Engineering/Offshore Engineering (not specialized in structures).
3 Advanced Structural Engineering.
Advanced Structural Engineering is the only course related to our field which includes Bridge, Infrastructure, offshore, Aerospace, and Nuclear.
I just thought what if I do petroleum Engineering as my major?
1. Is it a good Choice?
2. Will I have a good scope when I shift from civil to petroleum?
Thank you in Advance!!
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Solomon Raj Stephens S.M.ASCE
Tubli
97339052884
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