Petroleum Engineer

Summary

This position is located within the Department of the Interior, Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, in the Well Operations Section located in Houma, Louisiana. This position serves as a technical expert on oil and gas drilling operations and is responsible for assuring the technical adequacy of well designs, drilling programs, and abandonment procedures while ensuring that the operations are conducted in accordance with the applicable lease terms and regulations.

Duties

Performs technical reviews of applications for permit to drill, approval to change plans, alter casing programs, and plug and abandon new wells. Provides technical reviews and assessments on new and/or revised welding and burning plans pertaining to drilling operations for compliance with the regulations and submits completed plan to the supervisor for approval. Participates in inspections involving the full range of operations such as drilling, workover/completion, plugging and abandonment, environmental quality, H2S and sulphur operations, and activities on the OCS that often include facilities with known safety and environmental problems or hazards. Assures that leases under suspension of production are conducting operations in accordance with the approved activity schedule. Visits oil & gas leases under District supervision on a regular basis to determine that proper operating practices are followed, particularly where unusual or unique problems have developed, and analyses of such drilling operations are beyond the scope of the inspectors, lower graded engineering staff, and platform operators. Mentors and provides technical leadership, expertise and guidance to lower-level engineers and other staff in the conduct of day-to-day operations, investigations, inspections, and audits. Presents testimony as an expert witness on complex petroleum issues concerning drilling operations

Qualifications

All qualifications must be met by the closing date of this announcement-10/20/2026-unless otherwise stated in this vacancy announcement. To receive credit for experience, your resume MUST state either "full-time" (or "40 hours a week") or "part-time" with the number of hours worked per week to ensure proper crediting of specialized experience. Failure to adequately provide information needed to determine number of hours worked in each position may result in that time not being credited when evaluating qualifying experience. For periods of time that reflect military service, the DD-214 or Statement of Service is sufficient to meet the full and/or part-time hours requirement as the service dates will be reflected. Minimum Qualification Requirements: To be considered qualified for this position, you must first meet the basic education requirements for the series. In addition, the HR Office must be able to clearly determine from your resume that you meet the specialized experience requirements. Be sure your resume fully and explicitly supports the specialized experience you claim. Basic Education Requirements; Successfully completed a bachelor's or higher degree in Engineering in a school of engineering with at least one program accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET). OR Successfully completed a bachelor's or higher degree in Engineering that included differential and integral calculus and courses (more advanced than first year physics and chemistry) in five of the following seven areas of engineering science or physics: (a) statics, dynamics; (b) strength of materials (stress-strain relationships); (c) fluid mechanics, hydraulics; (d) thermodynamics; (e) electrical fields and circuits; (f) nature and properties of materials (relating particle and aggregate structure to properties); and (g) any other comparable area of fundamental engineering science or physics, such as optics, heat transfer, soil mechanics, or electronics. OR A combination of education and experience -- college-level education, training, and/or technical experience that furnished (1) a thorough knowledge of the physical and mathematical sciences underlying engineering, and (2) a good understanding, both theoretical and practical, of the engineering sciences and techniques and their applications to one of the branches of engineering. The adequacy of such background must be demonstrated by one of the following: Professional registration or licensure -- Current registration as an Engineer Intern (EI), Engineer in Training (EIT)1, or licensure as a Professional Engineer (PE) by any State, the District of Columbia, Guam, or Puerto Rico. Absent other means of qualifying under this standard, those applicants who achieved such registration by means other than written test (e.g., State grandfather or eminence provisions) are eligible only for positions that are within or closely related to the specialty field of their registration. For example, an applicant who attains registration through a State Board's eminence provision as a manufacturing engineer typically would be rated eligible only for manufacturing engineering positions. Written Test -- Evidence of having successfully passed the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE)2 examination or any other written test required for professional registration by an engineering licensure board in the various States, the District of Columbia, Guam, and Puerto Rico. Specified academic courses -- Successful completion of at least 60 semester hours of courses in the physical, mathematical, and engineering sciences and that included the courses specified in the basic requirements under paragraph A. The courses must be fully acceptable toward meeting the requirements of an engineering program as described in paragraph A. Related curriculum -- Successful completion of a curriculum leading to a bachelor's degree in an appropriate scientific field, e.g., engineering technology, physics, chemistry, architecture, computer science, mathematics, hydrology, or geology, may be accepted in lieu of a bachelor's degree in engineering, provided the applicant has had at least 1 year of professional engineering experience acquired under professional engineering supervision and guidance. Ordinarily there should be either an established plan of intensive training to develop professional engineering competence, or several years of prior professional engineering-type experience, e.g., in interdisciplinary positions. (The above examples of related curricula are not all-inclusive.) AND To qualify at the GS-13, have at least one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-12 level performing petroleum engineering work that provided the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to perform the duties of this position. EXAMPLES such as; analyzing and evaluating exploration and development operations that involve drilling and workover/completion activities, applying knowledge in directional drilling programs, managing pressure drilling applications and American Petroleum Institute (API) incorporated documents identified in CFR 250.198 as it pertains to drilling operations, experience with Blowout Preventer (BOP) and their individual components, and/or meeting with operators and contractors/ vendors to discuss and resolve complex drilling issues. Volunteer Experience: Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religious; spiritual; community, student, social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.

Education

This position does not allow substituting education for experience. This position has a mandatory education requirement. You must submit a copy of your transcript(s) to support