What the heck “WE” do???

I won’t say petrified but am at loss of words when people ask me “What exactly do petroleum engineers do?” and I smile sheepishly and say “Aah... Well… Hmm…Knock it off”.

The thing that troubles me the most in my engineering sphere is explaining to people what the sphere encloses. Electrical, Mechanical, Electronics, Com-Sci are self-proclaimed departments and no moron ventures to ask the same question to such an engineer but our case is a bit different.

Now to answer the question - In the four years of the course we just go to the lecture halls, jot down notes, freak out the whole sem, mug up all the crap and if need be resort to unfair means, throw up all the ingested stuff in the end-sems and go onto the next sem. So in the four years the domain of all the departments remains fairly similar but the real problem arises thereafter.

In short we try and save the maximum chunk of the forex reserve of the country. For the obtuse – “We drive the nation” but since this statement seems a bit too egotistical so let me explain. The entire upstream sector of the oil industry i.e. the exploration and production segment have the petroleum engineers as the nerve center and we also share responsibility for the lifeblood circulation. So the technical decision making and a part support system is taken care by us. And since this world won’t survive for a day without oil it would be safe to state that we indeed make the world go. Oh! Wow! And I always thought that this was an exaggeration until today.

So when some one asks me “So Indian Oil Corp must surely be recruiting from your campus?” it psyches me out totally. I look up and pray “God bestow a little knowledge on this imprudent creature”. Upstream and downstream are two totally different phases of the industry and asking such a question is like asking a stockbroker about the current onion prices.

Now when laymen tread into technical territory they commit utter faux pas. “Does one have to go down into the oil well to bail out oil?” Yah sure, reduce yourself to the size of a carrot and go down the well because any bigger dimensions might cause a bit of suffocation downhole. So Bon Voyage!!

Not their fault though as this an atypical branch and general awareness is less. Well lay your queries to rest and drop in a mail if required.

Do not expect a prompt reply though as I maybe too busy driving the nation around.