Underground Journal

Best Paid Jobs In The Oil Field

The recent Deepwater Horizon disaster has caused quite a lot of problems for the oil industry. Although only 11 workers died (a minor blip compared to the 167 dead of the 1988 Piper Alpha disaster), its environmental impact is unparalleled. This impact has caused the federal government to place a very strict six-month moratorium on offshore deep water drilling. Many have started wondering if offshore oil field jobs still have a future.

Unfortunately for the Green crowd, the answer is “Yes!” The main reason is that green energy technology has yet to become self-sufficient despite the money poured into it. That still leaves oil as the best and most flexible source of energy in the modern world. As long as that remains the case, no ban on oil drilling will ever last long.

If you are planning to get a job in the oil field, this is, of course, good news. After all, the conditions of 2008 when oil drillers scrambled for workers amidst the $140 per barrel oil price has not fundamentally changed. The 80′s oil bust (when the price of oil dropped below $10 per barrel) caused every oil company in the world to slash investment. Not only were new oil rigs not being built and new oil fields not being found, new workers were not being trained. That left most oil field operators without enough experienced workers to perform their most important money-making tasks – look for new oil fields, drill for oil and refine the oil. Although it is now 2010, 30 years of neglect cannot be rectified so quickly. The economic fundamentals that drove oil prices over $140 per barrel in 2008 – growing prosperity in China and India – have not changed.

What does that mean for oil field salaries? Well, let’s start from the beginning – oil field exploration. In 2008, the American Geologic Institute reported that salaries of Geology graduates (with Masters or Ph.Ds) had gone up $30,000 since 2003 (i.e. from $55,000 to $81,300). This has not played out yet – only 14% of geology students ever graduate with their degree after their 4 years in college. That means there is still plenty of room for those who want to get into this line of work.

But what if you think that Geology is not for you. In fact, what if you are not academically inclined at all? You still have a chance. Start at the bottom of oil rig work – become a roustabout. The pay is peanuts for the oil industry – “only” $50,000 a year – but it is still double the payscale for general laborers in the construction industry. Work your way up to roughneck, through derreckman, assistant driller and reach the top as a driller. If you have what it takes, you can accomplish this in 10 to 15 years. As a driller, you earn $100,000 per year, double the roustabout’s salary.

But besides oil field exploration and oil rig work, there is still refining the oil after it has been pumped out of the well. That requires a petroleum engineering degree. In 2008, Texas Tech reported that its graduating seniors were receiving job offers with salaries of $110,000 per year, not including signing bonuses. According to a March 2010 report in the Wall Street Journal, petroleum engineering graduates are still leaving school with average salaries of $86,220, not bad considering that most economists were still warning of fragile economic recovery.

As you can see, these are some of the best paid jobs in the oil field today. The White House moratorium on deep water drilling is not likely to change the situation much, not when Americans need to power their aircons for this summer and their heaters for the winter in six months time.

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