Opportunities In Oil And Gas Careers In Spite Of Low Crude Oil Prices

• Tweet

• Tweet

The low crude oil prices which has affected the growth of the oil and gas industry and resulted in layoffs has raised concerns for students keen on pursuing oil and gas careers. However, many recent surveys indicate that there is a significant demand for skilled candidates. Read on to learn more about why you should not give up on your dream of pursuing a career in the oil and gas industry.

Fast-Retiring Workforce In Oil And Gas

Many experts in the oil and gas industry are facing a dilemma, as a majority of the workforce is set to retire within a few years. This will motivate companies to fill in the vacancies by hiring skilled talent. So, it is a good idea to upgrade your skills and pursue professional engineering courses to be prepared for this eventuality. This will increase your prospects of landing jobs as oil and gas engineers when things start looking up in the oil and gas industry.

Orlando Zepeda said in a recent article:

“An oil and gas IQ survey found that 50 percent of all geophysicists and engineers in oil and gas will retire by 2018.

The industry, as seen by the high salaries it pays, is strong and big enough that it has resorted to buying out talent, contracting workers and poaching employees from the competition to sustain their expanding operations.”

Broader Engineering Specializations To Be In High Demand

Students who pursue broader engineering specializations will be in high demand than those students who opt for specialized oil and gas careers like reservoir engineers and drilling engineers. Hence, students can enjoy better job prospects when they opt for broader engineer disciplines like mechanical engineering or manufacturing engineering.

Jesse Snyder said in a recent article:

“While engineers will continue to be in high demand, the requirement for specialized oil and gas professionals like reservoir engineers, drilling engineers and power or steam engineers could conceivably fall relative to the past decade. Endurance Wind, a Surrey, British Columbia-based wind company, says broader engineering specializations like mechanical engineering, manufacturing engineering and test engineering could be in higher demand as more wind capacity is brought online.”

The present lull in the oil and gas field is temporary and things will soon start picking up. Students should prepare themselves to pursue rewarding careers in the oil and gas industry when hiring picks up again.