Petroleum Engineer

Summary You will serve as a Petroleum Engineer with Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement. This position performs a wide range of complex assignments in the management of GOA "idle iron" and wells and facilities on terminated or expired leases, assisting in the development of new approaches or procedures to identify idle infrastructure and track its decommissioning in the GOA. Responsibilities BSEE/BOEM Wide - This is a Merit Promotion announcement for career and career conditional BSEE/BOEM employees, Career Transition eligibles (CTAP), and those who are eligible under the hiring paths listed above. Refer to Required Documents section for more information. Some of the major duties you will perform include but are not limited to the following: Serve as a technical expert in well plugging and abandonment operations, facility decommissioning and associated site clearance of lease. Initiate enforcement actions on operators, lessees, and predecessors involving a default of decommissioning obligations. Review decommissioning plans and departure requests. Perform decommissioning liability estimation of well plugging and abandonment and facility decommissioning, including performing detailed statistical analyses of operator submitted cost data. Serve as coordinator overseeing decommissioning operations of leases. Develop GOA regional plan and establish milestones for addressing well plugging and abandonment and the decommissioning of associated facilities. Maintain an inventory of idle iron and terminated leases and monitor the progress of decommissioning activities across these leases. Salary Range Information (Per Annum): $122,749 (Step 1) to $159,575 (Step 10) First time hires to the Federal government normally start at the step 1 rate. Requirements Conditions of Employment Must be a U.S. citizen or national. Appointment subject to background investigation and favorable adjudication. Males born after 12-31-59 must be registered for Selective Service. Direct Deposit participation required. Successfully pass the E-Verify employment verification check. To learn more, visit As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you may be required to serve a 1 year probationary or 2 year trial period to evaluate your fitness and whether your continuation of employment advances the public interest. This probationary or trial period is an extension of the appointment process and therefore requires the agency to determine if continued employment would advance the public interest, meet the organization goals and mission of the agency, and/or otherwise promote the efficiency of the service. In determining if your employment advances the public interest, the agency will consider: your performance and conduct; the needs and interests of the agency; whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the agency or the Government; and whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service. Under applicable law, the employment of an individual serving a probationary or trial period automatically terminates when that period ends unless the agency affirmatively certifies, in writing, that the individual's employment should continue and that their appointment should be finalized. In the absence of agency action to affirmatively certify continued employment beyond the probationary or trial period, such appointments are terminated. Upon completion of your probationary or trial period, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest. Qualifications All qualifications must be met by the closing date of this announcement - 09/02/2026-unless otherwise stated in this vacancy announcement. Competitive candidates must also meet Time-in-Grade requirements as defined in 5 CFR 300, Subpart F. For current Federal employees, if hours worked per week are not included on your resume, you must submit a non-award SF-50 as part of your application to be used to validate your work schedule and determine the amount of specialized experience that you will be granted. An award SF-50 will not be acceptable documentation for which to consider your amount of qualifying experience. For periods of time that reflect military service, the DD-214 or Statement of Service is sufficient to meet the work schedule requirement as the service dates will be reflected. For all other applicants who are not current federal employees, 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. Minimum Qualification Requirements: To qualify for this position, you must meet the following minimum qualifications: Basic Educational Requirement AND Specialized Experience for the series to which you are applying. (1) Basic Educational Requirements: In addition to the specialized experience requirements for this position, you must meet at least one of the following: NOTE: This position requires specific educational coursework to qualify. You MUST provide transcripts (unofficial are acceptable) in order to verify that the educational requirements have been met. This information must be received by the closing date of the announcement. Failure to provide this information may result in you receiving an "INELIGIBLE" rating. A. Degree: Engineering. To be acceptable, the program must: (1) lead to a bachelor's degree in a school of engineering with at least one program accredited by ABET; or (2) include 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- B. 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 Written Test Specified Academic Courses Related Curriculum For further information on the adequacy of such background, demonstrated by one of the above listed, are found in the link below: Petroleum Engineering Series 0881 AND (2) Specialized Experience To qualify for the GS-13, you must possess at least one full year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-12 grade level in the Federal service, or comparable experience not gained through Federal service. Specialized experience is experience that equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform successfully the duties of the position, and that is typically in or related to the work of the position to be filled. Specialized experience is defined as demonstrated experience: 1) evaluating the remaining decommissioning liability of a particular lease; AND 2) conducting technical reviews of decommissioning plans or requests to ensure conformance with regulations. Must Meet All 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 claimed education if substituting education for experience. Transcripts must include your name, school name, grades, credit hours earned, major(s), grade point average or class ranking, and date the degree was conferred, if applicable. A typed list of courses, grades, semester/quarter hours, GPA, etc. will not be accepted. Non-submission may result in being rated not qualified for the position. Unofficial transcripts are acceptable, but if you are selected for this position and you used your education to qualify, you must provide official transcripts before you begin work. Foreign Education: To receive credit for education completed outside the United States, you must show proof that the education has been submitted to a private organization that specializes in interpretation of foreign educational credentials and such education has been deemed at least equivalent to that gained in conventional U.S. education programs. For more information on how foreign education is evaluated, visit: Additional Information Additional vacancies may be filled using this job announcement. All DOI employees, their spouses, and minor children may not acquire or retain any claim, permit, lease, small tract entry, or other rights granted by the Department in Federal lands, with limited exceptions. Additional ethics prohibitions can be found here, DOI Ethics Prohibitions | U.S. Department of the Interior.