Exploitation engineers figure out new ways to "exploit," or put to productive
use, an existing oil patch or gas field.
Exploitation is a term that can have a negative meaning, especially in
these environmentally conscious times. But "exploitation" doesn't mean acting
in an irresponsible manner.
"It's a controversial term, especially these days, in the last few years,"
says exploitation engineer Jeanne Phene. "I don't think it's politically correct."
It might not be politically correct, but the job title does capture the
essence of the work. Just don't think 'exploitation' means not caring about
the environment.
"It's a common term in our industry [but] it certainly doesn't mean 'spill
everything on the ground and run away,'" says Phene. "[Acting] in an environmentally
responsible manner is always part of the duties of that person," Phene adds.
"And there are other people in the organization that take care of those details,
but there's no expectation that it would ever be done in a socially irresponsible
way at all."
An exploitation engineer is a petroleum engineer who wears many hats.
Petroleum engineers generally fall into one of four categories: reservoir
engineer, production engineer, drilling engineer or facilities engineer.
An exploitation engineer's job combines the skills of a reservoir engineer,
who determines how much oil is in the ground; a production engineer, who figures
out the best way to get the oil out of the ground; and a business economist,
who decides whether it's worth the investment.
"They used to be called production engineers or reservoir engineers, and
when staff started to get a little bit shorter they started to combine them
into what they called an exploitation engineer," says Phene. "[That way] they
could have a production- and a reservoir-combined engineer looking after a
particular property.
"They would be doing everything from making sure the wells were optimized,
which means the pumps that you see going up and down in fields sometimes are
working efficiently, and also perhaps, if there aren't enough wells in the
field or if there are too many wells in the field from a reservoir engineering
perspective, [that] you get it out in a reasonable timeframe."
Exploitation engineers examine an oil patch that is no longer considered
productive or one that is considered too expensive to develop, and try to
determine whether money can be made from that patch by using different drilling
techniques, approaches or technology. In other words, their job is simply
to find a way to profitably extract every last drop of oil out of an oilfield.
"We're drilling and operating in more hostile environments," says Jerome
Schubert. He's a drilling engineer and a professor of petroleum engineering.
"We've got to develop the technology for that. We need to develop technology
to get more of the oil and gas out of the reservoir that's originally in place."
Employers are often smaller, independent oil exploration, production and
service companies that lack the resources to keep specialists in each field
on staff. The exploitation engineer applies general engineering principles
and finalizes everything with respect to business economics.
When exploitation engineers work for larger companies, their role tends
to focus more on the business aspects. The path to this career isn't always
a straight or rigidly defined one. Chances are you'll need a few years of
experience in the industry before you acquire the wide range of skills and
knowledge necessary to quickly assess the potential value of a particular
oilfield.
"If you were going to be an exploitation engineer you've probably got a
little bit of experience, working as a reservoir engineer or as a production
engineer, and then being able to put the two together," says Schubert.
Demand for exploitation engineers depends on oil prices. This is true for
all types of petroleum engineers.
There are lots of opportunities "as long as the prices are good," says
Tayfun Babadagli. He's a professor of petroleum engineering.
"It's very volatile," he adds. "That is the risky part of this profession.
I remember... in the '80s, all of the petroleum engineers, they were out of
jobs. The oil price was like nine or eight dollars a barrel... So that's the
risky part."
At the moment, oil prices are high. So job opportunities abound.
"All around the world these days, the job market is so good because of
oil prices and activity in the hydrocarbon business," says Babadagli.
"We have almost 100 percent placement, and our enrolment has skyrocketed,"
says Schubert. "There's a whole bunch of people that will be retiring in the
next five, 10, 15 years and there was a whole kind of lag in hiring a few
years back. We've been calling it 'The Great Crew Change' for a number of
years now. So there's a big demand for young engineers."