Grads find work in oil industry

Signing bonuses and high salaries are part of some packages.
COLUMBUS (AP) -- Oil and energy companies are scouring college campuses in Ohio and other states for new petroleum engineers, offering them hefty bonuses to meet an increasing demand in the profession linked to rising oil prices.
All 14 graduates of Marietta College's petroleum engineering department, one of just 17 such programs in the nation, had job offers in January, months before they received their diplomas from the school in southeast Ohio.
Shell Oil Co. recruiters have regularly visited Ohio State University's Geological Sciences Department over the past three years. The company hired three graduate students this year for jobs in New Orleans and Houston helping exploration teams find new drilling sites in the Gulf of Mexico, said Madhus Kohli, a senior staff geophysicist.
Consumer demand has companies putting more manpower into finding new oil sources, plus the industry needs to fill a large number of jobs left open by retirements.
"When I went on campus three years ago, the students were not aware of what the oil industry offered," she said. "But now, with oil prices so high, there is a renewed interest from the industry in exploration and production."
That has translated to signing bonuses of up to $20,000 and salaries that start at $75,000 -- up from $65,000 just a few years ago, according to Bob Chase, the chairman of Marietta's petroleum engineering department.
"It definitely makes you think, especially when you see people getting offers that are insane amounts of money," said Ohio State graduating senior Chris Gordon. "Should I be going to a grad school for oil now? Do I go to a Texas, Oklahoma or Colorado School of Mines?"
Upward mobility
More than half of the industry's work force is facing retirement in the next decade, which leaves opportunity for new hires to quickly move into management positions, Chase said.
All of his graduates in the last 10 years have found jobs in the industry, mostly at smaller U.S energy companies. Even summer internships are paying $5,000 a month, Chase said.
More than 90 students were enrolled in Marietta's program during the last school year.
Other petroleum engineering programs across the country have seen a jump in enrollment and interest. The number of students majoring in the subject at the University of Texas doubled between 2002 and 2004. Texas Tech's program grew by 53 students from 2004 to 2005, an increase of about 22 percent.
The University of Wyoming, responding to student demand, recently decided to revive its undergraduate petroleum engineering program after a four-year absence.
Kohli said she goes to OSU at least three or four times a year to recruit students working toward a masters degree in either geology or geophysics, with strong math and physics backgrounds.
Steven Goldsmith, a graduate geology student at OSU, said he would stick with his doctorate studies through 2008, and then pursue a teaching career. The high salaries are tempting for him, though.
"It does make you second guess," he said.