Via BreakingEnergy.com:
The US oil and gas industry has seen tremendous growth over the past several years, following a period of low oil prices and declining production. And job growth in the sector reflects a robust and growing need to both replace retiring workers and fill new positions.
Forbes’ latest rankings of the 15 most valuable college majors includes geology at #7 and petroleum engineering at #9. Environmental engineering, physics and finance – also integral to the US oil and gas industries – appear on the list as well.
There are job opportunities in oil and gas all across the country, as new unconventional finds have popped up in places like Colorado, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. But a good deal of the activity underway is in the Gulf Coast, home to the vast majority of US refining infrastructure, as well as a number of onshore and offshore oil and gas fields. And oil and gas activity in the region suffers from less of the “dirty oil” stigma common on the East and West Coasts. “It’s part of the culture here,” Dr. Jayathi Murthy, Chair of UT Austin’s Mechanical Engineering Department, told Breaking Energy.
“It’s always an attractive option, not least because it pays much better than other specialities,” Murthy said. “Obviously there are ups and downs, but the industry has been doing really well in the last 5-10 years.”
Among the region’s best petroleum engineering programs, University of Texas at Austin and Texas A&M feature at or near the top of many of the lists we found, with other Gulf Coast region schools including Louisiana State University’s A&M College, University of Houston and Texas Tech.
The rest here.