Production Engineer (Upstream Oil & Gas Production) – Nairobi, Kenya at WTS Energy

Job Description

• We are seeking to hire a Production Engineer who will be responsible for optimizing well and facility performance through effective production engineering practices. The role will support production optimization, artificial lift design and troubleshooting, well intervention planning, and flow assurance activities to improve asset uptime and recovery. The ideal candidate must have strong upstream oil & gas experience in production engineering, well performance analysis, and field-based optimization support. Nairobi based role with regular field visits.

Key Responsibilities:

• Monitor and analyze well and field production performance, ensuring accurate production data validation, anomaly detection, and implementation of corrective actions.
• Perform nodal analysis, well deliverability assessments, and decline curve analysis to support production forecasting and operational decision-making.
• Design, select, and optimize artificial lift systems including ESP, PCP, gas lift, and rod pump systems, and provide troubleshooting support to improve performance.
• Support production testing activities (PLT/IFT), interpret results, and integrate findings into production and reservoir performance models.
• Provide technical support for well intervention planning, completion reviews, and execution of workover activities as production engineering lead.
• Diagnose and resolve well performance issues such as scale, sand production, wax, corrosion, water breakthrough, and flow instability.
• Collaborate with facilities and operations teams to optimize surface constraints, choke management, and overall production system performance.
• Maintain and update production models, forecasting tools, dashboards, and technical reports to support management and operational planning.
• Lead root-cause analysis investigations for production losses, equipment failures, and operational inefficiencies, and implement reliability improvement initiatives.
• Support continuous improvement initiatives aimed at increasing production efficiency, reducing downtime, and optimizing lifecycle asset performance.
• Mentor junior production engineers and contribute to the development of engineering standards, procedures, and HSSEQ compliance practices.
• Perform any other duties as assigned in support of production operations and optimization activities.

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in Petroleum Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, or a related engineering discipline.
• Minimum of five (5) years’ experience in upstream oil & gas production engineering, with strong exposure to artificial lift systems, well performance analysis, and production optimization.
• Proven experience in well performance monitoring, production forecasting, and optimization of onshore or offshore assets.
• Strong experience with artificial lift systems including ESP, gas lift, PCP, and rod pump operations, including troubleshooting and optimization.
• Experience in nodal analysis, production modeling, and interpretation of well test data (PLT/IFT).
• Strong understanding of flow assurance challenges including wax, scale, hydrates, corrosion, and multiphase flow behavior.
• Experience supporting well interventions, workovers, and completion optimization activities.
• Proficiency in production engineering software, SCADA systems, and data analysis tools will be an added advantage.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, communication, and stakeholder engagement skills.
• Professional membership (e.g., SPE) or additional certifications in production optimization or artificial lift will be an added advantage.