What kind of mechanical engineering jobs are there relating to energy?

Hello Stephanie, I consult in the solar PV and water heating industry for home and commercial system sizing, locations analysis, installations, maintenance, and repair. Great Future for you there!

Here is a summary of what I have observed are common oil & gas industry positions for ME’s:

Applications Engineer – Equipment manufacturers have applications engineers that size equipment, like pumps, heat exchangers, compressors, etc. for various applications their customers have. For many companies this is an entry level job and the engineer will transition into sales or another area of engineering later.

Packaged Equipment Engineer – Equipment manufacturers have ME engineers that design skid packages for fabrication. The equipment is “packaged” or fabricated on a structural steel skid for installation on the facility and the package engineer has total responsibility during design, fabrication and testing. This person will usually work with application engineers to ensure equipment is sized properly, will requisition equipment, design piping systems and do all of the other things needed to fabricate a package.

Operations / Production Engineer – Producers (pipelines, oil & gas companies) have operations engineers responsible for ensuring equipment is maintained and producing as needed. These engineers are involved in maintenance, inspection as well as management functions like reporting and scheduling. Producers also have engineers that oversee the work done by EPC companies (Engineering, Procurement & Construction) and other contractors during design, fabrication and commissioning of the facility.

Design Engineers – EPC companies (Engineering, Procurement & Construction) companies design new facilities and engineer changes to existing facilities. Design engineers usually either work in a specialized area or after acquiring a broad level of experience work on overall facility design. The most common areas of specialization are: automation, pressure vessels, heat exchangers, piping systems, pipe stress analysis, rotating equipment, process & instrumentation design, material handling and architecture. Facility engineers will develop a wide knowledge of industry codes requirements and industry “good practices”, work with engineers from all disciplines to ensure their designs integrate into the overall facility and work with project managers and clients during initial design up to commissioning of the facility.

Requisition Engineers – EPC companies also utilize requisition engineers to procure equipment that satisfies project requirements. These engineers are employed during design and fabrication of a facility. They write equipment specifications, evaluate proposals, make recommendations to the client, review vendor designs and manage purchase orders from award to equipment delivery.

Equipment manufacturers have engineers that perform failure analysis and R&D work for equipment like: engines, pumps, compressors and equipment with patented (proprietary) designs.

I hope this is helpful.
-Mike