The Quadruple Bottom Line of Petroleum Engineering Petroleum engineering today faces a quadruple bottom line: technological, financial, demographic and environmental. The technological bottom line is being driven by discoveries in ever-deeper water, production from geographies remote from markets, and the arrival of e-field. The business bottom line is about demonstrating how what we do daily contributes to ethically making a favorable return for the shareholders and supporting company brand values that make each of our enterprises uniquely valuable. Ours is an aging discipline; demographic action points include more effective recruiting, retaining women and minorities once hired, and encouraging experienced practitioners to defer final retirement. The environmental bottom line begins with personal health and safety and extends to global social investment.