Will AI replace Gas Plant Operators?
AI reaches little of this job’s work.
9/100
Low exposure
More exposed to AI than 20% of US workers.
- AI already used in
- 7% of the work
- As AI tools mature: up to
- 18% of the work
What the job involves
Distribute or process gas for utility companies and others by controlling compressors to maintain specified pressures on main pipelines.
Where AI reaches the work
The job’s main tasks, heaviest first, by how far AI reaches them.
Already happening(1)
- Record, review, and compile operations records, test results, and gauge readings such as temperatures, pressures, concentrations, and flows.
Within reach(2)
- Contact maintenance crews when necessary.
- Signal or direct workers who tend auxiliary equipment.
Out of reach(16)
- Monitor equipment functioning, observe temperature, level, and flow gauges, and perform regular unit checks to ensure that all equipment is operating as it should.
- Collaborate with other operators to solve unit problems.
- Control operation of compressors, scrubbers, evaporators, and refrigeration equipment to liquefy, compress, or regasify natural gas.
- Distribute or process gas for utility companies or industrial plants, using panel boards, control boards, and semi-automatic equipment.
- Determine causes of abnormal pressure variances, and make corrective recommendations, such as installation of pipes to relieve overloading.
and 11 more
Also called
Liquefaction Plant Operator · Pressure Controller · Gas Controller · Gas Plant Operator · Field Gauger · Gas Maker · Gas Operator · Gas Processing Plant Operator
Related jobs
What these numbers mean
The score is the share of this job’s work, weighted by how important and frequent each task is, that AI could do in half the time: tasks an AI model could do alone count in full, tasks that need software built on AI count half.
“AI already used” is the share of the work in tasks where people are recorded using AI today. “As AI tools mature” counts every task AI could halve, with or without extra software.
The percentile compares the score with every job’s, weighted by how many people in the US do each one. Exposure means AI could change how the work is done, not that the job goes away. These are estimates for the typical job, not predictions.
Sources
- O*NET 31.0 Database, U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration
- GPTs are GPTs: Labor market impact potential of LLMs (task labels), Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin & Rock (2023), OpenAI and University of Pennsylvania
- Anthropic Economic Index: labor market impacts (task penetration), Anthropic
- Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (national and metropolitan areas), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics