Petroleum Engineer Career Assessment

2What is a Petroleum Engineer?

A petroleum engineer studies the rock that holds oil and gas, called the reservoir, and decides where to drill, how deep, and in what direction. They plan the drilling job, pick the equipment, and design the fracking job — pumping fluid and sand down the well at high pressure to crack the rock so oil can flow. After a well is producing, they watch how much it makes and decide what to change. They split into three main kinds: reservoir engineers (what is down there), drilling engineers (how to get to it), and production engineers (how to keep it flowing).

The Reality: Two things are true at once, and you need both. First: this pays extremely well. The middle North Dakota petroleum engineer earns about $132,120 a year, the top pay of any engineering job on this list and one of the highest of any career on it. Second: North Dakota oil jobs rise and fall with the price of oil, and layoffs are part of the history, not a rumor. When the oil price crashed in 2015 and again in 2020, ND oil companies cut staff hard and engineers lost jobs. That has happened more than once and it will happen again. It is also a four-year degree with heavy math: calculus 1, 2, and 3, differential equations, physics with calculus, chemistry, geology, and fluid mechanics. Plan for the good years by saving in them, and keep skills that move to other industries.

Your Responsibilities:

• Study rock and well data to decide where to drill
• Plan the path and depth of a well
• Design the fracking job that cracks the rock open
• Pick the drilling and pumping equipment a well needs
• Watch how much a well produces and decide what to change
• Run the numbers on whether a well will make money
• Work with geologists, rig crews, and service companies
• Make sure the work follows state oil and gas and environmental rules

You get energy out of the ground safely and without wasting the resource.

3A Day in the Life

6:30 AM — Check overnight production numbers for your wells from home before you drive.

8:00 AM — Morning call with the drilling crew out at the rig. The bit is slowing down.

9:00 AM — Look at the drilling data and recommend a change to weight and speed.

10:30 AM — Build a model of how much a planned well should produce over 20 years.

12:00 PM — Lunch.

1:00 PM — Drive out to a well site. Watch part of a frack job. Talk with the service company.

3:30 PM — Back at the office. Write up the site visit and update the well file.

4:30 PM — Meeting on next year's drilling plan and budget.

A mix of office and computer work with real trips out to rigs and well sites in western North Dakota.

4Training in North Dakota

This job needs a four-year petroleum engineering degree. North Dakota has one, at UND. You need a bachelor's degree in petroleum engineering. Pick an ABET accredited program. ABET is a national group that reviews engineering degrees, and an ABET degree makes licensing much faster later. Some people enter from a mechanical, chemical, or geological engineering degree instead and learn oil and gas on the job.

Training Pathways:

• Straight to the university (4 to 5 years): Start at UND as a petroleum engineering major. UND has an ABET accredited petroleum engineering degree, on campus or online.
• Two years here, then transfer (4 to 5 years total): Take your math and science at a North Dakota two-year college first, then finish at UND. Bismarck State College has a petroleum pathway built for this.
• Two-year field route (2 years, different job): A process plant or well technician degree gets you working in the oil patch much sooner, for good money, with much less math. It is a different job title, not the engineer title, and pay swings with the oil price just as much.

Where to Train in North Dakota:

• University of North Dakota (Grand Forks) — Petroleum Engineering, BS, 129 credits, 4 or more years, on campus or online. UND lists Petroleum Engineering (B.S.) as accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET, and names Hess, Marathon Petroleum, Continental Resources, Schlumberger, and Halliburton among employers of its graduates — engineering.und.edu/about/accreditation.html and und.edu/programs/petroleum-engineering-bs
• Bismarck State College (Bismarck) — Liberal Arts Engineering Pathway, AS, with a Petroleum Pathway option. BSC says students who graduate, finish the recommended coursework, and earn the AS will likely meet junior standing when they transfer into engineering at UND or NDSU — catalog.bismarckstate.edu/catalog/degrees/liberal-arts-sciences-transfer/engineering
• United Tribes Technical College (Bismarck) — Pre-Engineering, AS. UTTC says the degree is designed for transfer into an ABET accredited bachelor's program at schools like UND, NDSU, South Dakota School of Mines, and Navajo Technical University — uttc.edu/academics/programs/pre-engineering

Before You Start: High school diploma or GED. You must be ready for college math. Take algebra 2, trigonometry, and pre-calculus in high school if you can, plus physics and chemistry. If your math is rusty, take a placement test early and plan for a catch-up class.

Tip: Start with financial aid and scholarships. Fill out the FAFSA, ask the school’s financial aid office what you qualify for, and ask an employer whether they help pay for school. That is where the money starts. After that, ask a career counselor or Job Service North Dakota whether WIOA or other programs can help with what is left over, like tuition, books, a laptop, or exam fees. What can be paid for depends on the program and on your own situation, so ask before you enroll rather than after. Worth asking about specifically: two-year degrees that train you for a job, like civil engineering technology, land surveying, mechatronics, electronics, or instrumentation. North Dakota two-year colleges also cost far less than a university. Ask about paid summer internships too — engineering firms, plants, and survey crews hire students while they are still in school.

5Certification & Licensing

Most petroleum engineers work without a license. Some senior and consulting roles want one. The North Dakota State Board of Registration for Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors licenses engineers in this state. Oil companies do not usually require a license for day-to-day engineering. A license matters most if you want to consult on your own, sign reserve reports, or move into a senior technical role.

The License Ladder in North Dakota:

• Bachelor's degree first — North Dakota bases registration on the bachelor's degree (ndpelsboard.org)
• FE exam — the Fundamentals of Engineering exam, given by NCEES. Most people take it in their last year of college or right after (ncees.org)
• Engineer Intern (EI, also called EIT) — after you pass the FE exam. With an ABET accredited engineering degree the ND board asks for no work experience for this step (ndpelsboard.org)
• Work experience — with an ABET accredited engineering degree, 4 years after the degree. A non-ABET or technology degree takes longer (ndpelsboard.org)
• PE exam — the Principles and Practice of Engineering exam. NCEES offers a Petroleum version and says the exam is designed for engineers with at least four years of work after college (ncees.org)
• Professional Engineer (PE) — the full license. You send in references from licensed engineers who know your work (ndpelsboard.org)

The Exams: The FE exam has 110 questions. The appointment is 6 hours, with 5 hours and 20 minutes of test time. It is taken on a computer at a Pearson test center and is offered year-round. The PE Petroleum exam is also on a computer. You get one try per testing window and no more than three tries in 12 months (ncees.org).

Cost: NCEES lists the FE exam fee at $225 and the PE exam fee at $425. The ND board charges its own application fees on top of that, so call the board for current amounts.

Keeping It Current: ND personal licenses run on a two-year cycle. The board asks for 30 Professional Development Hours every two years. Twenty of the 30 must be technical and one must be in ethics (ndpelsboard.org).

6Salary & Job Outlook

North Dakota Petroleum Engineer Pay (May 2025):

• Starting out (bottom 10–25%): $39.68–$47.36/hour ($82,530–$98,510/year)
• Middle (median — half earn more, half earn less): $63.52/hour ($132,120/year)
• Experienced (top 25–10%): $76.10–$81.75/hour ($158,280–$170,040/year)

What that means: North Dakota numbers were published, so these are real ND figures. The middle ND petroleum engineer earns about $63.52 an hour, or about $132,120 a year — the highest pay of any engineering job on this list. Even the bottom tenth, about $82,530, beats the middle of most careers here. Two cautions. First, the sample is small: O*NET counts only about 200 petroleum engineers in ND, so the numbers move more year to year than they would in a big occupation. Second, the ND top tenth of about $170,040 is well below the national top tenth of about $253,200, because the biggest paydays sit in Texas and overseas. And every one of these numbers reflects a year with a workable oil price. In a crash year, bonuses vanish first, then jobs.

Jobs in North Dakota: About 200 people do this work in ND today. By 2034, that should be about 210 (about 5% growth). Expect about 10 job openings every year in ND from growth and people retiring or changing jobs. Across the U.S., the change is about 1% growth — slower than average.

Outlook: Steady but small, and bumpy. About 200 petroleum engineers work in North Dakota today, growing to about 210 by 2034, with roughly 10 openings a year. Nationally the job is projected to grow only about 1%. Understand what a 10-year projection hides: it is a smooth line drawn through years that are not smooth. Real hiring in the Bakken speeds up when oil prices are high and stops cold when they fall.

Who Hires in ND: Oil and gas producers working the Bakken, oilfield service companies, drilling contractors, consulting firms, the North Dakota Industrial Commission Department of Mineral Resources, and pipeline companies. Most jobs are in western North Dakota, in and around Williston, Watford City, Dickinson, and Minot, with some office roles in Bismarck.

Work Setting: Split between an office with a computer and well sites out in the field. Field trips mean wind, cold, mud, and long drives. Some roles are rotation-based, with long days on and then days off. Western ND housing can be tight and expensive when the field is busy.

Physical Demands: Low to medium. Office days are sitting at a screen. Site days mean walking rough ground, climbing stairs on a rig, long driving, and standing outside in North Dakota weather. Some employers can shift the field part to a co-worker.

Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, North Dakota, May 2025 (SOC 17-2171); North Dakota and U.S. long-term employment projections 2024–2034, via O*NET OnLine. Numbers are rounded.

7Where This Leads

Path 1: Field or Well Technician — A two-year-degree job out in the oil patch.

Path 2: Engineer Intern (EI) — Passed the FE exam. Working under a senior engineer.

Path 3: Drilling or Completions Engineer — You plan and run the drilling and fracking work.

Path 4: Reservoir Engineer — You model what is underground and how much it will produce.

Path 5: Production Engineer — You keep existing wells flowing well.

Path 6: Asset or Engineering Manager — You run a whole field and the team on it.

8The Real Talk

What's Great:

• The highest engineering pay in the state
• Strong pay even at the bottom tenth
• Real field work, not only a desk
• North Dakota is a major oil state
• Fast responsibility for new engineers
• Skills respected worldwide

What's Hard:

• Layoffs when the oil price crashes
• Only about 200 of these jobs in ND
• Heavy math and a four-year degree
• Jobs are in western ND, far from Fargo or Grand Forks
• Long hours and long drives
• Housing can be tight and costly in boom years

Be Honest: Can you handle a career where the pay is excellent but the job is not guaranteed through a downturn? Are you willing to live in western North Dakota? Can you commit to four or five years of hard math?

9Part 1: What Attracts You?

10Part 2: Are You Ready?

11Part 3: Your Next Move

Your Petroleum Engineer Assessment Results