Job Check

Petroleum Engineers

US evidence · AI already used for 0 of 10 main tasks · Check another job

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.

10 main tasks · most important first

Your main tasks and AI

Importance

01Specify and supervise well modification and stimulation programs to maximize oil and gas recovery.AI could speed this up, with extra tools
02Monitor production rates, and plan rework processes to improve production.AI could speed this up, with extra tools
03Maintain records of drilling and production operations.AI could speed this up a lot
04Analyze data to recommend placement of wells and supplementary processes to enhance production.AI could speed this up, with extra tools
05Assist engineering and other personnel to solve operating problems.AI could speed this up, with extra tools
06Direct and monitor the completion and evaluation of wells, well testing, or well surveys.AI could speed this up, with extra tools
07Develop plans for oil and gas field drilling, and for product recovery and treatment.AI could speed this up, with extra tools
08Assess costs and estimate the production capabilities and economic value of oil and gas wells, to evaluate the economic viability of potential drilling sites.AI could speed this up, with extra tools
09Confer with scientific, engineering, and technical personnel to resolve design, research, and testing problems.AI could speed this up, with extra tools
10Interpret drilling and testing information for personnel.AI could speed this up, with extra tools

Tasks from O*NET® 31.0 (US Department of Labor, CC BY 4.0, changed by us), most important first. “Already use” comes from Anthropic’s data on real work chats with Claude; “could speed up” from task ratings made with GPT-4 in 2023.

Checked O*NET 31.0, August 2026Corrections

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Where these numbers come from

O*NET 31.0 Database, US Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), 2026-08. Licence: CC BY 4.0.

Anthropic Economic Index: labor market impacts (observed exposure), Anthropic, 2026-03-05. Licence: CC BY.

Working with AI: Measuring the Applicability of Generative AI to Occupations (v1.1), Microsoft Research (Tomlinson et al.), 2025-12. Licence: CC BY 4.0.

GPTs are GPTs: labor market impact potential of LLMs (Science, 2024), Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin and Rock, 2023. Licence: MIT.

What work can robots do? (robot exposure index), Anthropic, 2026-09-30. Licence: CC BY 4.0.

This page includes information from the O*NET® 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. We have modified this information; USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed or tested these modifications. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. How the Job Check works.

Corrections

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Petroleum Engineers

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