Where Will the Next Generation of Petroleum Engineers Come From? Disturbing Observations From a Texas Oil Town

摘要

There is a concern in the oil and gas industry about an imminent shortage of professionals. Many factors contribute to this expected staff shortage, including large numbers of oil workers nearing retirement age, worker diasporas during lean times, lack of job prospects for students during the 80's and 90's and the resulting decline in enrollment in petroleum engineering programs. Currently, the industry is recruiting aggressively, offering high salaries; many college students have jobs arranged by their junior year. It might be expected that students would be enticed to prepare for careers in the oil and gas industry, especially in areas like west Texas, where the oil industry contributes enormously to the economy, oil jobs are plentiful, and are salaries high. However, a discussion with college bound juniors and seniors at Odessa High School in west Texas revealed that very few intended to pursue oil and gas-related careers. This disturbing result led to the authors to develop a survey to evaluate high school students for their interests in, and attitudes about, the industry. Survey questions cover the students' overall view of the industry, their impressions of industry technology, their desire to work in industry, factors affecting that desire, and general demographic data Initial observations indicate that students believe the oil and gas industry is low-tech, jobs are highly paid but unreliable, oil and gas will not be major energy resources in the future, and that a high school education can earn an employee close to what degreed employees earns, diminishing the value of a petroleum degree.