Companies and their activities

The oil and gas industry is made up of many individual companies. Some are household names with thousands of employees operating across the world and across the activities listed below. Others are tiny organisations which offer highly specialised services to larger companies in only one of the following sectors. And most are somewhere in between. In other words, the oil and gas industry includes engineering contractors, service companies, drilling contractors and many different types of consultants, as well as 'oil companies'.

Exploration
This involves finding oil and working out whether it is economical to go into to production. The work is largely for geologists, geoscientists, drilling engineers and petroleum engineers.

Production
In order to extract the oil some kind of production facility has to be designed and built, then operated and maintained. The jobs are mainly for petroleum, reservoir and drilling engineers.

Manufacturing and refining
This is the stage that turns gas or crude oil into something sueful. The work in this area is mainly for engineers.

Supply and distribution
The products of the manufacturing and refining stage need to be sold and distributed to the end customer. Jobs in this area are for distribution and logistics managers, planners and salespeople.

Research and development
This covers all aspects of the business - improving products and the processes that produce them. The jobs are mainly for engineers and scientists.

Business and IT roles
It takes a great number of business skills to keep a multi-billion dollar industry running smoothly. Economists, lawyers, personnel managers, accountants, marketing executives, IT specialists and general managers are just a few of the people who keep the oil and gas business thriving.

From degree subjects to jobs...