From September 2015, as suggested to ACIPET which is an association that joins professionals of Petroleum Engineering in Colombia, the Directives of Ecop S.A. have stated the urgent need (brutally accelerated by the sustainable decrease of the international prices of crude) of the inevitable intervention, control and stop of the Petroleum Engineering programs in Colombia, in both public and private universities.
The reason being, the absurd exponential growth of the number of graduates in Petroleum Engineering, which increases every year, goes against the oil reality of the country and its historic levels of production. This, to show that the current work crisis of the Petroleum engineering graduates can´t be considered a consequence of the situation of the last 2 years in terms of the international prices of crude; in times of oil prosperity the number of unemployed professionals without a first work experience, 3 years after their graduation, was already high.
Compared to other majors, Petroleum Engineering is a closed program which can only be applied in the oíl sector. For this reason, there is no chance of working in other sectors of the economy.
Up to now, the number of enrolled candidates in the Consejo Profesional de Ingeniería de Petróleos – CPIP – (Professional Council of Petroleum Engineering) probably has over 9.000 students and the public and private institutions are indifferent towards this matter.
Colombia is not and has never been an oil country; it is a country with a modest exportation of oil as raw material, which became the first line of exportation of the Colombian economy. However, this has also become the main frustration for many Colombian professionals and for future disoriented candidates as, for example, the rural sector does not have enough qualified workforce to optimize the agricultural and cattle productivity of the country.
There are options that could be legislated and encouraged under the direction of the Colombian authorities, which could help to widen the work opportunities in the industry, even if these don´t solve the problem in the long term. These are:
- Through the National Hydrocarbons Agency- NHA: implementation in exploration contracts, of the participation of Colombian Petroleum Engineers with priority on training programs and professional growth.
- Work opportunities in energy entities such as UPME “Unidad de Planeación Minero Energética” (Unit of Mining and Energy Planning) and CREG “Comisión de Regulación de Energía y Gas” (Commission of Energy and Gas Regulation), which are technical entities in which there is no participation of Petroleum Engineers.
- Entities such as ACP “Asociación Colombiana del Petróleo” (Colombian Association of Oil), a private institution that joins Colombian Oil Operators, could be of great support in the analysis of this matter.
However, to counter this issue, the Ministerio de Educación Nacional (Ministry of National Education), must be part of the solution and propose future strategies such as:
- Designing guidelines not only to make a stop but also evaluate in the long term the real but conservative needs of the country in terms of oil professionals.
- Leading campaigns so that the students are motivated to study other majors in the Technical, Agricultural, Information Technology fields, etc. Which correspond to more realistic needs of the country, allowing them to find a stable and sustainable working future.
ECOP S.A.
July 11th 2016