International Journal of Engineering Research and Reviews
ISSN 2348-697X (Online) Vol. 10, Issue 1, pp: (14-30), Month: January - March 2022, Available at: www.researchpublish.com
PETROLEUM ENGINEERING DISCIPLINE AND THE REALITIES OF THE 21ST CENTURY AND BEYOND: A PRESCRIPTION FOR NIGERIA Dr Amieyeofori Valentine Felix, PhD ENERGYHUBNG.com, 2022
Abstract: The current energy transition is targeted at achieving net zero emissions by the mid of this century, and the major pathway is to transit from fossil fuel to renewable energy sources. This has posed an existential threat to the fossil fuel industry, especially the oil and gas industry, which has a direct impact on the petroleum engineering disciple in tertiary institutions. The paper therefore reviewed the implication of this transition, and the roles of the petroleum industry, and the petroleum engineering disciple to stay relevant and become adaptable to the current transition. The paper noted that oil and gas will be needed in the energy mix, though in a declining trend as renewable technologies mature. Regardless, the petrochemical industry, which is part of the oil and gas value chain, will survive the current energy transition beyond the 21 st century. Also, there are clear adaptable skills, and technologies such as geothermal wells, carbon capture and storage that can enhance the petroleum industry during the transition period. The industry and the petroleum engineering curricular must also adopt innovative technologies such as artificial intelligence, internet of things, and drones to augment the operations under a constantly evolving digital ecosystem. Petroleum Engineers must also expand their curricular to include SDGs, and ESGs, and apply their reservoir and petroleum economics skills into investment banking modules to be able to support the sourcing of funds for the oil and gas industry. Keywords: Energy Transition, Fossil Fuel, Artificial Intelligence, Net Zero Emissions, Renewable Energy Sources, SDGs, ESGs, Internet of Things.
1. INTRODUCTION Petroleum and its semi-solid cousin, bitumen (asphalt), have been used for waterproofing, construction, and lighting purposes spanning back to ancient civilizations, where they were first discovered in the form of natural seepages found in Italy, China, Egypt (Gebel Zeit), Cuba, and the Dead Sea. Baku, in present-day Azerbaijan, long before its modern-day discovery. Similarly, natural gas deposits were recorded by early societies in ancient India, Greece, Persia, northern Iraq, and China. (US Library of Congress). Though the first recorded oil well was drilled in 1857 in the town of La Brea, Trinidad to a depth of 280ft by the American Merrimac Company, modern history of the oil and gas industry however, started in 1847, when Scottish chemist James Young, discovered natural petroleum seepage in the Riddings coal mine, and from this seepage distilled both a light thin oil suitable for lamps and a thicker oil suitable for lubrication. Shortly after the first oil well in 1857, the first commercial oil well was drilled by Edwin Drake in Titusville, Pennsylvania in 1859, and this discovery led to the Pennsylvania „oil rush‟, making oil one of the most valuable commodities in America. (Ali, 2019). However, the industrialization of the oil and gas sector came only in the later 19th century, first as a raw material to produce lightening oil and lubricants, and then, at the turn of the 20 th century, as a powerful source of energy that overtook coal as the dominant energy source that revolutionized the global economy. (Macini & Mesini ()). The petroleum industry presently contributes almost 60% of the current global energy mix. The growing relevance of this “black gold” also brought with it, innovative technology to enhance the finding and production of the hydrocarbon in commercial quantities. Consequently, professional petroleum geologists, came into the area as early as 1897 in California, 1900 on the Gulf Coast, 1910, in Mexico and around 1913 in Oklahoma, who pioneered the application of chemical, physical and geological principles to the problems of petroleum discovery and production. Though not schooled in the
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