Oil well engineer vs reservoir engineer

The differences between oil well engineers and reservoir engineers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 6-8 years to become both an oil well engineer and a reservoir engineer. Additionally, a reservoir engineer has an average salary of $124,309, which is higher than the $83,972 average annual salary of an oil well engineer.

The top three skills for an oil well engineer include AFE, engineering support and well design. The most important skills for a reservoir engineer are spotfire, material balances, and economic analysis.

Oil well engineer vs reservoir engineer overview

	Oil Well Engineer	Reservoir Engineer
Yearly salary	$83,972	$124,309
Hourly rate	$40.37	$59.76
Growth rate	8%	8%
Number of jobs	2,568	17,430
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 82%	Bachelor's Degree, 66%
Average age	43	43
Years of experience	8	8

Oil well engineer vs reservoir engineer salary

Oil well engineers and reservoir engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Oil Well Engineer	Reservoir Engineer
Average salary	$83,972	$124,309
Salary range	Between $47,000 And $147,000	Between $90,000 And $170,000
Highest paying City	Tulsa, OK	Reno, NV
Highest paying state	Nevada	Nevada
Best paying company	Exxon Mobil	Range Resources
Best paying industry	-	Energy

Differences between oil well engineer and reservoir engineer education

There are a few differences between an oil well engineer and a reservoir engineer in terms of educational background:

	Oil Well Engineer	Reservoir Engineer
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 82%	Bachelor's Degree, 66%
Most common major	Petroleum Engineering	Petroleum Engineering
Most common college	Stanford University	Stanford University

Oil well engineer vs reservoir engineer demographics

Here are the differences between oil well engineers' and reservoir engineers' demographics:

	Oil Well Engineer	Reservoir Engineer
Average age	43	43
Gender ratio	Male, 88.3% Female, 11.7%	Male, 82.2% Female, 17.8%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 4.2% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 10.6% Asian, 17.1% White, 63.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%	Black or African American, 4.1% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 10.3% Asian, 19.1% White, 61.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%
LGBT Percentage	5%	5%

Differences between oil well engineer and reservoir engineer duties and responsibilities

Oil well engineer example responsibilities.

Manage development and production on several large, fast-track projects including waterfloods, a steamflood, and CO2 EOR.
Coordinate activities with ModuSpec to ensure the rig are properly inspect and in compliance with API 4F.
Develop detailed operational sequences and cost estimation for AFE approval.
Manage development and production on several large, fast-track projects including waterfloods, a steamflood, and CO2 EOR.

Reservoir engineer example responsibilities.

Trial managed pressure drilling (MPD) to mitigate tight pressure margins.
Develop and manage a Spotfire production dashboard for cross-divisional consumption and reporting.
Monitor reservoir performance of a CO2 and hydrocarbon miscible flood projects.
Optimize schemes, development plans, and EOR technologies; analyze overall performance and economic evaluations.
Support reserve booking, quarterly reserve migration forecasting and asset Opex modeling.
Drill 12-1/4"hole, with MPD as a contingency.

Oil well engineer vs reservoir engineer skills

Common oil well engineer skills

AFE, 37%
Engineering Support, 29%
Well Design, 18%
Data Acquisition, 6%
HSE, 6%
API, 4%

Common reservoir engineer skills

Spotfire, 7%
Material Balances, 7%
Economic Analysis, 5%
Production Data, 5%
EOR, 5%
PVT, 4%