Oil companies scramble to find engineers

HOUSTON -- So much for sweating out that first job after college.

Like star athletes, engineering students Julie Arsenault and Emily Reasor are prized prospects for the energy industry, which is experiencing dizzying demand for engineers.

Bustling oilfield activity and retiring baby boomers, among other factors, have petroleum outfits large and small trying to hire thousands of engineers, and experts say the trend is expected to extend into the next decade as worldwide energy demand grows.

"I've talked to quite a few of my peers, and we know we're in a good spot," Cornell University's Reasor said as she and Arsenault, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, took part in a week-long recruitment program sponsored by Royal Dutch Shell's U.S. arm. "It's nice to know we're needed."

Management consulting firm Oliver Wyman says roughly eight in 10 global oil and gas companies forecast a shortage of petroleum engineers through at least 2011. The American Petroleum Institute said U.S. energy companies will need at least another 5,000 engineers by decade's end.

In Houston, home to scores of exploration, engineering and services companies, simply check the classified ads: Row upon row of job listings for engineers at ConocoPhillips, Marathon Oil Corp. and numerous others.

Petroleum engineers evaluate potential oil and gas reservoirs, work with geologists and other specialists to understand rock formations, determine drilling methods and then monitor drilling and recovery operations. One of their big tasks is to design methods that achieve maximum recovery of oil and gas.

"I can assure you, it's tight from a supply standpoint, hot from a demand standpoint and lucrative from a job searcher's standpoint," said Cary Wilkins, who leads Shell's recruitment efforts in the U.S. and Canada.

No one in the industry appears to be panicking, but executives acknowledge the hiring challenge and some say it could impede investment in new oilfield projects.

David Pursell, an analyst with Tudor Pickering & Co. Securities Inc., said it's difficult to quantify what a hardship the shortage will be, but it's certainly a consideration when a company considers buying an existing project or starting one anew.