‘Fracking’ Drives Demand For Engineers While Raising Questions

April 24, 2013- The production of natural gas and oil from unconventional sources using hydraulic fracturing has sparked heated debate over the environmental impact of extraction versus the economic advantages for the US. It’s also spawned a growing demand for engineering talent across America.

Despite slowdowns in natural gas production, the oil and gas industry still faces a talent crisis that is driving high salaries and multiple job offers for graduates, according to schools.

US natural gas production has risen 25 percent over the past five years, largely due to shale gas production, according to a report on unconventional energy sources from IHS, a business information and advisory company. That source rose from just 2 percent of natural gas production in 2000 to 37 percent in 2012, according to America's New Energy Future: The Unconventional Oil and Gas Revolution and the U.S. Economy.

The increasing supplies of gas are lowering costs of materials and fuel for manufacturing. The same techniques causing the natural gas boom are also being applied to oil, especially as gas prices fall due to an increase in supply.

Even more dramatic are the predictions for the U.S. to reach energy independence and become an exporter. The International Energy Agency's 2012 World Energy Outlook envisioned a scenario in which the U.S. could become a net exporter of natural gas by 2020 and almost net self-sufficient (balancing imports with exports) by 2035.

As a result, many experts estimate demand for "tens of thousands" of engineering jobs in the areas of oil and gas drilling, production, and processing. Staffing agency Aerotek, which serves the energy and engineering industries, has seen significant growth in the midstream sector of the natural gas process. According to Stuart Ferguson, director of divisional operations for energy, the most demand is in natural gas transportation, pipeline construction and design. Hot jobs the company is trying to fill include integrity engineers, pipeline engineers, electrical engineers and mechanical engineers.

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