What does a reservoir engineer do?
A reservoir engineer is responsible for evaluating the amount of fluid mechanics in underground reservoirs. Reservoir engineers should have excellent analytical and geological knowledge to determine the location of fuels using advanced technology systems and applications. They also verify the cost of oil and natural gas by analyzing market trends and consumer demands, especially for investment and drilling ventures purposes. A reservoir engineer should have excellent communication skills to write reports and strategize efficiency on drilling processes.
Reservoir engineer responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real reservoir engineer resumes:
- 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.
- Maintain SBC duties for sales package and presentations.
- Update WellView, x-over/subs/DP list and pipe on board.
- Collaborate through complete well cycle, assist at wellsite.
- Authore comprehensive drilling programs to be used at wellsite!
- Create multiple spreadsheets with macros to reduce data entry time into WellView.
- Train new personal to operate and troubleshoot survey and formation evaluation tools.
- Supervise deployment of completion materials at the well-site, compliance with HSE practices.
- Conduct asset development planning and evaluation of EOR development options for cold and thermal.
- Work with BP to conduct HazOp audits to accept the rigs and finalize documents.
Reservoir engineer skills and personality traits
We calculated that 7% of Reservoir Engineers are proficient in Spotfire, Material Balances, and Economic Analysis. They’re also known for soft skills such as Creativity, Problem-solving skills, and Analytical skills.
We break down the percentage of Reservoir Engineers that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Spotfire, 7%
Produced Top 20/Bottom 20 Report (generated in Spotfire).
- Material Balances, 7%
Performed material balance calculations to have a better understanding of reservoir behavior and predict field performance.
- Economic Analysis, 5%
Assisted Commercial and Global New Business Development group with technical and economic analysis for negotiation of future extensions and economic agreements.
- Production Data, 5%
Analyzed production data, pressure transient analysis (PTA) and identified preferred completion procedures for unconventional reservoir optimization.
- EOR, 5%
Well Test Analysis Studies and Simulation Studies of the different EOR methods which applicable for Gas and Gas Condensate Reservoirs.
- PVT, 4%
Planned and directed development of a patented petroleum artificial intelligence, PVT analysis software for ARCO's domestic and international affiliates.
"spotfire," "material balances," and "economic analysis" are among the most common skills that reservoir engineers use at work. You can find even more reservoir engineer responsibilities below, including:
Creativity. The most essential soft skill for a reservoir engineer to carry out their responsibilities is creativity. This skill is important for the role because "because each new drill site is unique and therefore presents new challenges, petroleum engineers must be able to come up with creative designs to extract oil and gas." Additionally, a reservoir engineer resume shows how their duties depend on creativity: "skilled in the inventive use of gis geographical information systems (arcview, arcinfo, arcgis) for production optimization. "
Problem-solving skills. Another essential skill to perform reservoir engineer duties is problem-solving skills. Reservoir engineers responsibilities require that "identifying problems in drilling plans is critical for petroleum engineers because these problems can be costly." Reservoir engineers also use problem-solving skills in their role according to a real resume snippet: "resolved volumetric reconciliation of all reservoir blocks using material balance. "
Analytical skills. This is an important skill for reservoir engineers to perform their duties. For an example of how reservoir engineer responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "petroleum engineers must be able to compile and make sense of large amounts of technical information and data in order to ensure that facilities operate safely and effectively." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a reservoir engineer: "utilized programs such as aries, powertools, and pi dwights to create type curves and analyze production. ".
Math skills. For certain reservoir engineer responsibilities to be completed, the job requires competence in "math skills." The day-to-day duties of a reservoir engineer rely on this skill, as "petroleum engineers use the principles of calculus and other advanced topics in math for analysis, design, and troubleshooting in their work." For example, this snippet was taken directly from a resume about how this skill applies to what reservoir engineers do: "carbonate reservoir: rebuilt porosity and permeability models with geostatistics method; matched production data for 60 wells. "
The three companies that hire the most reservoir engineers are:
- California Resources5 reservoir engineers jobs
- Continental Resources4 reservoir engineers jobs
- SM Energy4 reservoir engineers jobs
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Compare different reservoir engineers
Reservoir engineer vs. Gas analyst
A gas analyst is faced with different responsibilities in the workplace. They are required to manage internal physical transactions with the gas management system. They may also be called upon to train new employees in GC-MS software and how to handle cylinders properly. Another duty of theirs is to analyze high-pressure cylinders of gas and check for purity using GC-MS. They may be in charge of monitoring some SCADA alarms and alerting field technicians to any problems.
While similarities exist, there are also some differences between reservoir engineers and gas analyst. For instance, reservoir engineer responsibilities require skills such as "spotfire," "material balances," "eor," and "pvt." Whereas a gas analyst is skilled in "data analysis," "quantitative analysis," "sql," and "vba." This is part of what separates the two careers.
Gas analysts earn the highest salaries when working in the finance industry, with an average yearly salary of $90,153. On the other hand, reservoir engineers are paid more in the energy industry with an average salary of $144,054.The education levels that gas analysts earn slightly differ from reservoir engineers. In particular, gas analysts are 15.8% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a reservoir engineer. Additionally, they're 3.6% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Reservoir engineer vs. Mud analysis supervisor
Together with a drilling rig engineer, a drilling fluids engineer helps with the pumping of fluids, testing liquids for unwanted particles. They also are involved in mixing fluids needed to drill oil or gas. Another task is providing reports for fluid properties acquired and giving recommendations. They keep a timely record of the performance of each staff member. If staffing is inadequate, they are also tasked to calculate funds for the drilling, allocating budget in both the procedures and miscellaneous expenses.
In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, reservoir engineer responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "spotfire," "material balances," "economic analysis," and "production data." Meanwhile, a mud analysis supervisor has duties that require skills in areas such as "autism," "executive leadership," "financial analyses," and "applied behavior analysis." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.
Mud analysis supervisors earn lower levels of education than reservoir engineers in general. They're 6.5% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 3.6% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Reservoir engineer vs. Drilling fluids engineer
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, reservoir engineers are more likely to have skills like "spotfire," "material balances," "economic analysis," and "production data." But a drilling fluids engineer is more likely to have skills like "drilling fluid," "fluid systems," "polymer," and "logistics."
Drilling fluids engineers earn the best pay in the energy industry, where they command an average salary of $104,653. Reservoir engineers earn the highest pay from the energy industry, with an average salary of $144,054.drilling fluids engineers typically earn lower educational levels compared to reservoir engineers. Specifically, they're 17.5% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 5.2% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Reservoir engineer vs. Junior field engineer
Even though a few skill sets overlap between reservoir engineers and junior field engineers, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a reservoir engineer might have more use for skills like "spotfire," "material balances," "economic analysis," and "production data." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of junior field engineers require skills like "safety procedures," "broadband," "rig," and "autocad. "
In general, junior field engineers earn the most working in the energy industry, with an average salary of $83,098. The highest-paying industry for a reservoir engineer is the energy industry.In general, junior field engineers hold lower degree levels compared to reservoir engineers. Junior field engineers are 15.6% less likely to earn their Master's Degree and 5.2% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Types of reservoir engineer
Updated January 8, 2025
