Responses to the survey were received from nine companies, but three of the replies were not complete, and one of the companies that reported complete date employed less than 10engineers. Consequently, the heart of the analysis is based on data from five oil producing companies, each of whom employed more than 500 engineers at year and 1983.
Seven of the companies (the group will be called set A) reported complete year end totals for engineers employed for the past five years and both high and low projections for the next years. These companiesreport a past four year decline in the employed engineering staff from the end of 1982 to the end of 1986 of 12.4%. They project a five year change, from year end 1986 to year end 1991, that ranges from an increase of 0.2% to a decline of 7.1%. In short, they see little prospect for an increased engineering work force and a high probability that the engineering work force will continue to fall. The year-by-year tabulation is given in Table 1.
Seven companies, which will be called set B, reported not only the year end totals for engineering staff but also the year end totals for those who held degree in petroleum engineering. (These are not the same seven companies that make up set A). The percentage of those holding petroleum engineering degrees varied by year from 39.3% to 43.7%. Over the four year period, from the end of 1982 to the end of 1986, the decline in year end petroleum engineers employed was 7.6% compared to the decline for all engineers of 16.4%. The year-by-year tabulation is given in Table 2.
The seven companies designated as set A also reported their total engineering hires for a five year period as well as the hires of those having petroleum engineering degrees. Total hiring in 1986 was less than 20% of that in 1982. However, the hiring of petroleum engineers in 1986 was about 30% of hiring in 1982. Over 70% of all hires of 1986 were with degrees in petroleum engineering. The year-by-year tabulation if given in Table 3.
The seven companies designated as Set A projected their hiring of petroleum engineer sat both high and low levels for the period 1987-1991. The number of hires projected for 1987 is the same as the number of hires in 1986, with projections for 1986. In 1988, the high projections would result in a doubling of hires over 1987. Overall, these companies do not appear to be very optimistic about a rapid recovery in the job market for petroleum engineers. The year-by-year summary for past hires and future projections is given in Table 4.
In the five year period 1982–1986, the total number of petroleum engineers hired from the campuses by these seven companies was 479.According to reports that have been given by Bourgoyne, the total number of petroleum engineers hired from the campuses in these years was 3502. Thus, the set A of companies represented in this survey accounted for 123.7%of those hired. Assuming that these same companies would account for an equivalent percentage in the period 1987–1991.
