Petrochemical engineering is a specialized branch of Chemical Engineering which deals with the operations of refining and petrochemical technology. The term petrochemical refers to the organic chemicals which are obtained directly or indirectly from crude petroleum. It is the task of the petrochemical engineers to discover natural sources of oil, extract them from the earth, refine them and make it usable. Petroleum engineering can be divided into two parts, upstream sector and downstream sector. The upstream sector activities include exploration, production and exploitation of oil and natural gases. The downstream sector consist activities such as the refining, marketing and distributing of petroleum products. Refining process is crucial for an oil product as then only it can be used.

Petrochemical engineers mainly have needs in refineries, petrochemical plants as well as downstream petroleum industries and R & D Organizations.

Core Subjects – The core subject of Petrochemical Engineering are as follows:

Reaction Engineering

Heat Transfer

Mass Transfer

Fluid Dynamics

Thermodynamics

Transport Phenomena

Further Education – After completing the BE or B.Tech in Petrochemical Engineering, you can opt for the ME or M.Tech in the said field or go for research.

Job profiles – The petrochemical engineers can work as petroleum geologists, reservoir engineers, production engineers, drilling engineers among several other profiles.

Top Recruiters – The top recruiters in this field are as follows:

Geo Enpro Petroleum Ltd.

Oil India Ltd.

Shell Technology Ltd.

Essar Oil

Geometric Ltd.

Oil & Natural Gas Corporation Ltd.

Reliance Petrochemicals