It's good to be a subsea, pipeline or drilling engineer

March 13, 2012
As we put the finishing touches on our upcoming engineering salary survey (April 19 issue), there is news about engineering compensation in the oil and gas area, courtesy of The Oil & Gas Global Salary Guide 2012. After surveying over 14,000 oil and ...

As we put the finishing touches on our upcoming engineering salary survey (April 19 issue), there is news about engineering compensation in the oil and gas area, courtesy of The Oil & Gas Global Salary Guide 2012.

After surveying over 14,000 oil and gas professionals, the Guide found that senior drilling engineers now average $98,000 per annum. Managers in that discipline average $142,500. The Guide says subsea engineers came out on top of all disciplines surveyed and can expect average salaries of US$105,200 and US$146,900 respectively for the same levels of skill and responsibility.

For senior-level reservoir and petroleum engineers, the average pay packet is US$97,800 with manager-level professionals at US$123,400.

Matt Underhill, Managing Director of Hays Oil & Gas, who produced the Guide with a jobsite called Oil and Gas Job Search, commented: “These are figures for average salaries across the world and there will be many highly skilled engineering professionals earning considerably more, particularly those in high paying countries such as Australia, the US and Norway. It is also worth noting that around 40% of engineers are contractors, which shows an industry that is bringing a wealth of new projects online.”

Duncan Freer, Managing Director of Oil and Gas Job Search commented: “There has also been a significant and welcome demand for graduate-level engineers which was not the case in recent years. Skills shortages have been a major concern for the continuing health of the industry and this change is a step in the right direction.”

Three quarters of all employers expect staffing levels to increase in the next 12 months.

The full report is available for free here: www.oilandgasjobsearch.com/salary

About the Author

Lee Teschler | Editor

Leland was Editor-in-Chief of Machine Design. He has 34 years of Service and holds a B.S. Engineering from the University of Michigan, a B.S. Electrical Engineering from the University of Michigan;, and a MBA from Cleveland State University. Prior to joining Penton, Lee worked as a Communications design engineer for the U.S. Government.

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