The role of a production engineer is changing. Organizations are constantly having to change their systems to help them adapt to the ever changing needs of the gas and oil industry. It is clear that traditional systems no longer work. Increased efficiency in oil production has seen an increase in the number of technologies and an increase in the roles of production engineers. There have also been regulations to help decrease environmental pollution. These new technologies and regulations have helped increase the responsibilities and knowledge of production engineers. In the last decade, most organizations have adopted digital computing technologies in oil production and monitoring of production centers. The modern computer technologies used have been successful in increasing the efficiency of the monitoring. The newest trend is production engineers developing softwares that can efficiently monitor levels of gas, and notify the production engineer trough a link on their phone (Norris 2001).These applications are also designed to react to certain conditions that may occur. For example, if the water level gets extremely low in any of the tanks, the system will shut off production until more water is pumped in. If gas level in a tank increase, the system can reroute the gas to a secondary reservoir. Oil production engineers are slowly finding new technologies that increase the efficiency of monitoring applications used (Norris 2001).The current generation of software engineers has found ways to ease the problems associated with monitoring. There are also consultations with developers of these systems to determine if there are any further developments that can be made to these brilliant inventions. These developments have also increased the need for production engineers having proper knowledge of all the computer systems applied. This way they can improve the system if there is any need.Production engineers are being required to reassess past failures in production plants. This new requirement has been driven by the need to reduce the number of oil production disasters that result in loss of life and millions of dollars in property. Every engineer hashad to reassess documented past failures and develop a report on the causes of the disasters. Finally, they come up with ways of preventing the disasters in the future (Mitchell et al. 2012).One of the biggest failures observed in this discipline is that there are inadequate risk management practices applied. Organizations dealing in oil production need to assess any potential risk they are facing the plant and develop an appropriate plan to mitigate it. The risk assessment is carried out on the plant and equipment and the procedures Involved in production. This will help prevent further problems in the future (Mitchell et al. 2012).The Job description of petroleum engineer has constantly been changing. The engineer serves as the designer of most of the systems used in the plant. However, production engineers are now required to include more skill set. Traditionally engineers would design safety procedures and monitor the implementation. However, today engineers also develop the budgets required. Traditionally managers played this role. However, this has changed. The increased focus on safety means that engineers must decide the quality of materials used in production and storage of gas and other petroleum products. As the engineer in charge of monitoring, I have to carry out a cost-benefit analysis of all the technologies used. This is an increased responsibility for production engineers (Mitchell et al. 2012).The most common trend in Oil and gas production is the use of hydraulic fracturing. This method has been an efficient oil and gas production method. However, there is one big problem with this process. It produces huge amounts of water that contaminates the environment around the mine. This means that production engineers have to continuously monitor the levels of water to prevent contamination. If the water used during mining overflows, there is bound to be serious environmental repercussions.While there have been very many developments in technology, there are concerns that the chemicals used in the hydraulic fracturing process posing a danger to the ecosystem around the well. This increases the need for effective monitoring in oil and gas. This complaint led to most countries requiring mining companies to disclose all the products used in the process. Companies have to give the exact volumes and water used in each fracturing job and provide this information to the AER (Norris 2001).The second regulation is that no hydraulic liquid will be used below the ground water base. The AER made this regulation to prevent any toxic fracturing agent from poisoning ground water. Organizations are also required to submit to the AER all additives in the fracturing liquid for approval before they can begin the process. These regulations are designed to ensure that regardless of the chemicals being toxic or not, they do not mix with ground water. As the engineer in charge of monitoring water and gas levels, its my job to ensure that the liquids do not mix (Mitchell et al 2012).The companies have also been instructed to ensure that the wellbore is cased in steel and the area around it cemented. The idea is that the chemicals around the casing do not spill out and mix with ground water around the well. Any hydraulic liquid that comes above the surface must be handled and stored based on the guidelines provided by the AER. These liquids include salt water from the geologic formation and the fracturing liquid. The companies are prohibited from letting any fluid in the process to be released in a water body. The rule includes treated water that was used in the process. All these regulations are designed to protect the purity of ground and natural water bodies. There is need for special storage tanks for this water (Mitchell et al 2012). There are countries that have installed a total ban on the hydraulic fracturing process such as France. Germany has allowed the use of this process except in areas close to wetlands. There are also other countries that have put a hold on the implementation of this process until they can complete a research of the environmental dangers pods by this process. This means that production engineers cannot risk contaminating the environment. It is clear that the definition of a production engineer is changing. The technologies used in oil and gas production have made have changed the definition of todays production engineer. Petroleum engineers have been forced to increase their knowledge. They now have to be aware of computer support systems, risk management, and budgeting. All these procedures have been given to engineers as a cost cutting measure to ensure oil and gas companies remain very competitive. Works Cited Mitchell, John, Val??rie Marcel, and Beth Mitchell.What next for the oil and gas industry?. Chatham House, 2012. Norris, Pippa.Digital divide: Civic engagement, information poverty, and the Internet worldwide. Cambridge University Press, 2001. Wu, Desheng Dash, David L. Olson, and John R. Birge. Risk management in cleaner production.Journal of Cleaner Production53 (2013): 1-6.
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