Discuss the professional ethics in the petroleum engineering sector.

Discuss what is considered and

causes unethical conduct in petroleum engineering. Discuss how the professional ethics impact on
petroleum engineering quality and approaches to improving ethics in petroleum engineering sector.
Give examples in your explanation.

INTRODUCTION
Petroleum engineering is a field that concerned with the activities that are related to the production
of hydrocarbons. The product of the hydrocarbons can be either crude oil or natural gas. Petroleum
engineer need to design and develop the methods for extracting oil and gas from deposits below the
surface of the earth. Beside that, petroleum engineer also find new ways to extract oil and gas from
older wells.
Duties of a petroleum engineers include to design equipment to extract oil and gas in the most
profitable way. Next, to develop ways to inject water, chemicals, gases, or stream into an oil reserve to
force out more oil. To develop plans to drill in oil and gas field and then to recover the oil and gas. Then,
to evaluate the production of wells through testing and surveys. Another duty of petroleum engineers is
to use computer controlled drilling or fracturing to connect a larger area of an oil and gas deposit to a
single well and make sure that oil field equipment is installed, operated, and maintained properly.
Petroleum engineers generally work in offices or in research laboratories. However, they also must
spend time at drilling sites, often for long periods of time.
Petroleum engineering sector consists of a profession which based on specialised education and
training. This profession is about being a full time career or occupation and having a specialised course
of study. Then, it having codes of professional conduct, having state licensing regulations and being
governed by local and national associations. The state regulatory bodies are created to monitor the
practice of a profession and to declare who can be admitted into a profession limits access to that
profession. Moreover, it can bestow a limited monopoly on the practice of that profession. In case of
petroleum engineering, an engineer requires a licensed professional engineer in order to certify a
certain type of document restricts related to the job scope.
PROBLEM STATEMENT
Engineering is the application of mathematics, scientific, economic, social and practical
knowledge. It is all about to invent, innovate, design, build, maintain, research and improve structures,
machines, tools, systems, component, material selection, and process. The discipline of engineering is
extremely broad and encompasses a range of more specialized field of engineering. Each with more
specific emphasis on particular areas of applied science, technology and types of application.
Engineering is a very professional field of work. There are many professionalism act that exist in
engineering but the problem is that lack of basic knowledge on the professionalism in engineering as a
whole. The engineering field can be divided into small sector such as mechanical, manufacturing,
electrical and petroleum. In petroleum engineering, there are many of ethical conduct that have been
applied in the field of work but the ethical conduct usually overlooked due to lack of understanding and
knowledge on the ethical conduct. The cause of unethical conduct and the unethical conduct itself need
to be understand by each of the engineers as it can lead to huge problem ahead. Engineers need to
identify the example of the unethical conduct that already happened. The unethical conduct need to
solve and overcome so that huge problem can be avoided.
OBJECTIVE
1. To know about the professionalism and it important in engineering
2. To understand the ethical conduct that exist in the petroleum engineering
3. To highlight and identify the unethical conduct and the causes of unethical conduct in
engineering
4. To list the example of unethical conduct and ways to solve it
5. ETHICS
There is the largest professional organisation in petroleum engineering sector which called the
Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE). This organization takes the engineering ethics seriously which is
dealing with the standard of professional conduct for engineers with respect to the engineers
responsibility to the public, his employer, clients, and to the profession of engineering. The practice of
engineering ethics is considered as a vital influence on the quality of life for all people. Engineers should
have a high competency, integrity, honesty, and impartiality. It means they must be fair and equitable,
accept a personal responsibility for adherence to applicable laws, the protection of environment, and
safeguarding the public welfare in their profession actions and behaviours. There are some professional
conducts in petroleum engineering sector:
Engineers offer services in the areas of their competence and experience, affording full
disclosure of their qualifications.
Engineers consider the consequences of their work and societal issues pertinent to it and seek
to extend public understanding of those relationships.
Engineers are honest, truthful, ethical, and fair in presenting information and in making public
statements, which reflect on professional matters and their professional role.
Engineers engage in professional relationships without bias because of race, religion, gender,
age, ethnic or national origin, attire, or disability.
Engineers act in professional matters for each employer or client as faithful agents or trustees
disclosing nothing of a proprietary or confidential nature concerning the business affairs or
technical processes of any present or former client or employer without the necessary consent.
Engineers disclose to affected parties any known or potential conflicts of interest or other
circumstances, which might influence, or appear to influence, judgment or impair the fairness or
quality of their performance.
Engineers are responsible for enhancing their professional competence throughout their careers
and for encouraging similar actions by their colleagues.
Engineers accept responsibility for their actions; seek and acknowledge criticism of their work;
offer honest and constructive criticism of the work of others; properly credit the contributions
of others; and do not accept credit for work not their own.
Engineers, perceiving a consequence of their professional duties to adversely affect the present
or future public health and safety, shall formally advise their employers or clients, and, if
warranted, consider further disclosure.
Engineers seek to adopt technical and economical measures to minimize environmental impact.
Engineers participate with other professionals in multi-discipline teams to create synergy and to
add value to their work product.
Engineers act in accordance with all applicable laws and the canons of ethics as applicable to the
practice of engineering as stated in the laws and regulations governing the practice of
engineering in their country, territory, or state, and lend support to others who strive to do
likewise.
 6. UNETHICAL CONDUCTS IN PETROLEUM ENGINEERING
Engineering is an elite profession. As members of this profession, engineers are expected to
have the highest standards of honesty and integrity. Engineers must perform under a standard of
professional behavior that requires adherence to the highest principles of ethical conduct. In petroleum
engineering sector, there is a famous unethical conduct that leads into a tragedy which is an unethical
oil giant, BP.
We care deeply about how we deliver energy to the world. Above everything, that starts with safety
and excellence in our operations (About BP).
These are the first two phrases of BP's policy. "What we stand for." Ironically, BP was heavily
criticized for its safety standards and business operations. In particular, the most famous and
devastating oil spill in the history of the United States is the fault of this powerful oil company. In
response, BP's extensive application recovery programs, but the damage was already done. The
environment, wildlife, and local economies of all states bordering the Gulf of Mexico felt the
consequences of millions of barrels of oil released into the ocean. As the social science point of view,
Donaldson's ideas on companies provide rights in a basic way to assess BP ethicalness in them as a
company's actions before and in response to the accident. After BP oil drilling operations have been
largely attributed to the devastating oil spill in 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico, the company invested a lot of
time and financial resources to maintain a strong public image, but not able to act as an ethical
company.

On April 20, 2010, the Deepwater Horizon oil rig connected to a BP-owned well exploded in the
Gulf of Mexico, causing the most devastating oil spill in the world. The blast caused 11 deaths and
released about 4.9 million barrels of oil in the Gulf (Hughes). The BP site offers a page that explains the
accident, which states:

The accident involved a well integrity failure, followed by a loss of hydrostatic control of the well. This
was followed by a failure to control the flow from the well with the blowout preventer (BOP) equipment,
which allowed the release and subsequent ignition of hydrocarbons. Ultimately, the BOP emergency
functions failed to seal the well after the initial explosions (Gulf of Mexico).

After 36 hours of burning, the fire was finally sank the platform, by pouring oil into the Gulf before the
good can be sealed ("Gulf of Mexico").

While the investigations into the technical causes of the explosion continue, guilt was thrown back
and forth between the three companies related to the oil rig. Unfortunately for BP, its history of cost
reduction makes it an easy target. A report from the National Academy of Engineering concluded that
many BP options "were likely to lead to lower cost and less time relative to other options," and criticized
"lack of processes to ensure that safety didnt take a back seat to cost". The BP's Deepwater Horizon Oil
and Drilling Commission also condemned BP's cost-cutting strategies when it issued a report that "BP
did not have policies and systems in place" to ensure that the decisions taken to reduce costs and
improve efficiency do not increase or decrease safety risk "(Hughes). In BP defense, the report later
blames BP management practices, Halliburton Co. and Transocean Ltd, saying that the three companies
"could not communicate properly" and "decisions, therefore individuals have made critical decisions
without fully appreciating its context or meaning" (Hughes).
The unethical conduct that can be list out from this tragic event are:

Communication failure between the three company

The decisions made without fully appreciating the context or meaning.
The lack of processes to ensure that the safety did not take a back seat to cost
The design chose for the well make it difficult to be seal from explosive of natural gas
Insisting on needlessly complex formula for a crucial cement seal
Repeatedly changing the plan lead to confusing of the crew

7. IMPROVING ETHICS
Therefore, codes of ethics have been established by various professional engineering societies, such
as the National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE), the American Society of Mechanical Engineers
(ASME), the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), etc. These codes provide a framework
for the ethical judgment of an engineer. The codes also express the rights, duties and obligations of
members of the profession. Obviously, codes of conduct are not broad enough to cover all possible
ethical dilemmas an engineer may encounter in his or her career.Let us look at the Fundamental Canons
of the National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE) Code of Ethics:

Engineers shall hold paramount the safety, health and welfare of the public
Engineers shall perform services only in areas of their competence
Engineers shall issue public statements only in an objective and truthful manner
Engineers shall act for each employer or client as faithful agents or trustees
Engineers shall avoid deceptive acts
Engineers shall conduct themselves honorably, responsibly, ethically, and lawfully so as to
enhance the honor, reputation, and usefulness of the profession

8. ETHICAL DILEMMAS EXAMPLES

There are some illustration that involved ethical conducts in engineering. Perhaps these cases will lead
to a heightened awareness of ethical dilemmas and the need to approach same with caution and a
sense of doing what is right.
First Situation involves a partnership comprised of an engineer and a geologist. They specialize
in evaluating oil and gas properties and prospects. They are approached by a promoter who
packages producing properties for sale. The promoter makes a proposal along these lines, lets
 join forces to sell this deal. You two do the geology and engineering involved in an evaluation
report, well sell the deal and split the promotion. While not verbalized, theres a hint, (very
thinly veiled) that an evaluation containing the highest possible value is expected. The engineer
and geologist explain why their proposed role would be a conflict of interest and decide not to
accept the proposal. The promoter doesnt understand why conflict of interest would be an
issue, as opposed to the concept of aggressive salesmanship.
What do you think?: Did the consultants act properly or were they overly cautious?
Suggested Answer: The consultants acted properly, assuming their primary business objective is
to provide evaluation services. In some cases, it may be proper for an evaluator to participate in
preparation of a sales package but only if his role and compensatory participation are
completely disclosed to potential buyers.

Second Situation involves a registered professional engineer named Cook. He specializes in

property evaluations for estate tax filings. He has the reputation of being very thrifty with his
own and his clients money. Furthermore, hes biased against the Internal Revenue Service,
believing strongly that estate tax laws are grossly unfair and confiscatory. Mr. Cook has been
engaged by representatives of a very wealthy deceased person to evaluate the estates oil and
gas interests. These representatives make it clear to Cook that the estates tax bracket will be a
very high one. There is subtle, but strong encouragement to keep the appraised value low so
as to minimize the tax bite. Cook is faced with a tempting thought with two advantages to be
gained by slanting the appraised value as low as possible:
One he gains favor with his client
Two- he can strike a blow against the IRS.
What Do You Think? Does Cook yield to temptation? If challenged by the IRS and a higher value
is derived, is he a loser or a hero for making a valiant effort? Is his reputation damaged? Whos
to know what transpired outside the IRS and those associated with the estate?
Suggested Answer - Cook should play it straight. Whether his work product is never known to
the public or his other clients is immaterial. If hes truly professional and his ethics are high, he
will conduct this evaluation, just like any other on a strictly unbiased basis.

Third Situation involves a conscientious evaluation engineer named Davis. He has concerns
about one of his consulting clients. The client wants Davis to do a reserve and evaluation study.
Davis is not sure as to how the client will utilize the report or what representations he will make
about it. Davis is willing to provide the client with a verbal account of the study, but is very
reluctant to put his findings in writing.
What Do You Think? (1) Should Davis prepare a written report and protect himself with the
usual language concerning restricting use (a) by client or (b) only upon Daviss approval (2) If
Davis does not prepare a written report as requested, has he done the client a disservice? or (3)
Should Davis refuse to do the study at all?
Suggested Answer If Davis has serious concerns about the character and ethical behavior of the
client, he should refuse to do the study and avoid involvement with the client.