Maybe in your oil field experience, but that has not been my experience.
"A chemical engineer is a specialized mechanical engineer (at least this is the view in the North American market)."
A specialized mechanical engineer? Dude how do you make a statement like that? You claim to be an oil field chemist. Who do you think designs the distillation columns and reactors for refineries? After the oil is refined, what engineers do you think design the reaction parameters to produce specialty chemicals?
Jobs for chemical engineers:
Plastics
oil refinery
chemical manufacturing
manufacturing in general
sanitation
biofuels
biopolymers
water remediation
I feel the opportunities are endless. However, if I had to do all again, I would look to get into water, biofuels, or biopolymers.