Non-Petroleum Energy And The Petroleum Engineer
Authors: Calhoun J.C. 
Published: December 2007

The petroleum engineer has been identified almost exclusively with the petroleum and natural gas industries and his role has been viewed primarily as being related to the drilling for and primarily as being related to the drilling for and producing of oil and natural gas, which I shall producing of oil and natural gas, which I shall refer to collectively as petroleum resources. Both the field of knowledge and the art which are unique to petroleum engineering have applications beyond the field of petroleum resources. Some of these applications are germane to the development of other energy sources, but other applications are related to non-energy activities.

In order to give you my ideas on petroleum engineering in non-petroleum energy areas, I will need to tell you how I visualize petroleum engineering. In 1963 I prepared a talk for the AIME Annual Meeting under the title "Objectives for Petroleum Engineering - A Definition of Petroleum Petroleum Engineering - A Definition of Petroleum Engineering." I reviewed that paper in preparation for this presentation and I found the 1963 preparation for this presentation and I found the 1963 analysis to be equally valid today. From it, I reproduce the following definitions

"I define engineering as the activity of man by which the physical systems of nature are controlled or by which physical systems, combining nature and art, are created and controlled."

"My definition of petroleum engineering is that part of engineering which is concerned with the control of the systems made up of the fluid containing rocks of the earth, the flow of fluid within these rocks, the wells through which he fluids are conducted to and from the surface of the earth, and the surface processes coupled thereto."

This definition of petroleum engineering might be construed as being too limited because it refers only to fluid containing rocks. Fundamentally, the unique knowledge area and professional work of the petroleum engineer are involved whenever fluids are petroleum engineer are involved whenever fluids are moved into and/or out of the earth through individual wells and/or well systems. The earth strata involved may have been fluid bearing naturally or may contain only those fluids that have been introduced.

In 1963 this analysis led me to moke the following observation - "Within the rocks of the earth, it is possible to create systems of fluid movement and control for the disposal of waste fluids from the surface of the earth. It is possible to create such systems also for storage possible to create such systems also for storage of fluids within the confines of the earth, and for the recovery of minerals other than oil and gas. It is conceivable that such systems may have value as underground reactor beds or underground purifying systems. The system viewpoint allows purifying systems. The system viewpoint allows creative imagination for our objectives."

Even at the time I wrote my discussion in 1963, the disposal of wastes, the recovery of salt and sulfur through well systems, the recovery of geothermal heat, the in situ recovery of coal, the in situ recovery of oil shale, and similar uses of well systems were being practiced or proposed. Of course, well systems had been used for recovery of water for many centuries.

It was the petroleum industry that produced the incentive for the development of the knowledge and art which we call petroleum engineering. It is for this reason that we use the adjective "petroleum" to describe the knowledge area. Had there been an incentive from some other industry, i.e., from oil shale, coal, or geothermal, or from some other national goal, such as radioactive waste disposal, before the petroleum industry incentive occurred, the profession might have developed a different name. If I were to try to coin a more appropriate descriptive title, I might suggest "subsurface fluid engineering." However, I do not suggest that we try to change the name.

Now, let me turn to same of the non-petroleum energy situations in which I think the petroleum engineer may find a role because of his professional knowledge. First, let me categorize the professional knowledge. First, let me categorize the resource systems for energy as follows:the direct solar radiation system;the atmosphere/ ocean system;the biological system; andthe fossil system.