Labor costs for petroleum engineers set to rise

Image Source: petroleumengineer.at

With less than stellar employment rates and a glut of underemployed workers paid inadequately in the US, it is a surprise that the oil and gas industry is having trouble hiring enough skilled workers and engineers to tap into the potentially lucrative and abundant shale rock hydrocarbons.

Wages are not even a problem, as in 2012, petroleum engineers and the like earned an average of $183,000 to $285,000 depending on their position and work experience. Those numbers were a 20 to 50 percent jump from those in the NES Global Talent data in 2009. Even starting salaries for the less experienced are at $98,000.

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In fact, those salaries are poised to rise, as more oil and gas companies compete for the dangerously low number of petroleum engineers and skilled workers, aggravated by the retirement of half of the current global energy workforce in 10 years.

As the current industry workforce approaches retirement age, companies are drilling at breakneck speed to take advantage of available manpower before the generational turnover. This means the time is now to secure jobs for skilled workers and petroleum engineers. The need is so great, in fact, that many companies are poaching engineering graduates from other fields like mechanical and civil engineering and developing programs to train them as petroleum engineers.

It seems the shale and natural gas boom is already underway, and those who take advantage of it could be at the cusp of success.

Image Source: businessweek.com

Ali Ghalambor is one of the foremost experts in petroleum and natural gas engineering. You can find more updates on the oil and gas industry by visiting this Facebook page.