Will AI replace Petroleum Engineers?
AI reaches a large part of this job’s work.
44/100
High exposure
More exposed to AI than 72% of US workers.
- AI already used in
- 4% of the work
- As AI tools mature: up to
- 80% of the work
What the job involves
Devise methods to improve oil and gas extraction and production and determine the need for new or modified tool designs. Oversee drilling and offer technical advice.
Where AI reaches the work
The job’s main tasks, heaviest first, by how far AI reaches them.
Already happening(1)
- Write technical reports for engineering and management personnel.
Within reach(15)
- Assist engineering and other personnel to solve operating problems.
- Specify and supervise well modification and stimulation programs to maximize oil and gas recovery.
- Monitor production rates, and plan rework processes to improve production.
- Maintain records of drilling and production operations.
- Assess costs and estimate the production capabilities and economic value of oil and gas wells, to evaluate the economic viability of potential drilling sites.
and 10 more
Out of reach(7)
- Coordinate activities of workers engaged in research, planning, and development.
- Coordinate the installation, maintenance, and operation of mining and oil field equipment.
- Take samples to assess the amount and quality of oil, the depth at which resources lie, and the equipment needed to properly extract them.
- Supervise the removal of drilling equipment, the removal of any waste, and the safe return of land to structural stability when wells or pockets are exhausted.
- Test machinery and equipment to ensure that it is safe and conforms to performance specifications.
and 2 more
Also called
Drilling Engineer · Petroleum Engineer · Engineer · Reservoir Engineer · Exploration Engineer · Logging Engineer · Mud Engineer · Natural Gas Engineer
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