Petroleum Pump System Operators, Refinery Operators, and Gaugers
In short: today's best AI models could do about 45% of this job's working time (projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index) if the work were set up for them, and about 47% by the end of 2028 if progress keeps its long-run pace. The people and hands-on work, about 53% of the time, stays with people.
Operate or control petroleum refining or processing units. May specialize in controlling manifold and pumping systems, gauging or testing oil in storage tanks, or regulating the flow of oil into pipelines.
33,160 people do this job in the US. $96,710 a year.
A typical 40-hour week
Not yet reviewed task by task- AI could take on18 h
- A person checks AI's work0 h
- Desk work AI can't do yet1 h
- Stays with people21 h
Petroleum Pump System Operators, Refinery Operators, and Gaugers, now: of a 40-hour week, AI could take on 18 hours, 0 hours become checking its work, 1 hours are desk work it can't do yet, and 21 hours stay with people.
The largest pieces: Plan movement of products through lines to processing, storage, and shipping units, using knowledge of system interconnections and capacities (about 4 h); Monitor process indicators, instruments, gauges, and meters to detect and report any possible problems (about 4 h); Operate control panels to coordinate and regulate process variables such as temperature and pressure, and to direct product flow rate, according to process schedules (about 3 h).
Estimates for a typical week of this job, if progress keeps its long-run pace, counting work the best models finish four times in five. Every task is below.
of the working time. Now is projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index.
- 47%
- 0%
- 53%
of the work: Anthropic's measure of what people already bring to Claude at work (2025). It counts help with part of a task, so it can be higher than the share within reach.
On the chosen pace and reliability. Estimate.
Share of the working time within reach, now to 2030
Change assumptionsHide assumptionsLong-run pace, four in five
What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .
At this date and pace, models finish tasks up to 2.4 work days long four times in five.
How far this has come
With GPT-4, measured in March 2023, 0% of this job's working time was within reach at . With Claude 3.7 Sonnet, measured in February 2025, 2%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 41%. Today's estimate: 45%.
A backcast: today's task data with the best model METR had measured by each date. It shows how fast the models have moved, not what anyone forecast at the time.
Measured use over time
Of the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled and tied to a work task, no reportable share went to this job's tasks in May 2026; 0 of its 24 tasks showed up. Within each of Anthropic's methods, never across a change: 0.034% to 0.045% (released February and March 2025); 0.0045% to none (August 2025 to February 2026).
Each release
| Conversations | Share | Rank | Tasks seen |
|---|---|---|---|
| Released February 2025 | 0.034% | 341 of 708 | 4 of 24 |
| Released March 2025 | 0.045% | 286 of 703 | 3 of 24 |
| The week of Aug 4, 2025 (released September 2025) | 0.0045% | 543 of 655 | 1 of 24 |
| The week of Nov 13, 2025 (released January 2026) | 0.0034% | 607 of 672 | 1 of 24 |
| The week of Feb 5, 2026 (released March 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 24 |
| April 2026 (released June 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 24 |
| May 2026 (released June 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 24 |
Measured, not estimated: Anthropic's samples of Claude.ai conversations, each tied by a model to an O*NET task, from the Anthropic Economic Index. It says where Claude's use goes, not how much of this job's working time it covers, so it is not on the same scale as the reach above. The releases differ in their sample, their classifier and the smallest share they report (the June 2026 file rounds each task to a hundredth of a percent, so a smaller task reads as none), which is why a change of method starts a new line. At least 96% of each older release's task-tied use matched this site's tasks, and all of the newest. Claude.ai only, so use through other tools and other companies' models is not in it. Every job ranked.
Robots and the physical work
Anthropic rates 65% of this job's working time as physical work. For 59% of the working time, a robot has been shown doing most of the task somewhere: 26% in a purpose-built cell, 33% in a structured facility. 0.92 of 3, the 169th highest of the 923 jobs.
- Not physical 35%
- No robot shown 6%
- In a purpose-built cell 26%
- In a structured facility 33%
Anthropic's rating, not this site's estimate: Claude Opus 5, searching the web, rated each physical O*NET task by the kind of setting in which a robot it could cite (deployed, sold or demonstrated) does most of the task, weighted by its own estimate of each task's share of the time (What work can robots do?, September 30, 2026, data CC BY 4.0; every job ranked). A robot shown somewhere is not a robot in your building: cost, setup and safety decide that. The share within reach on this page still counts no body work. The robot behind each rated task is under the task below.
The tasks
Sorted by . 24 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plan movement of products through lines to processing, storage, and shipping units, using knowledge of system interconnections and capacities.Done daily by most who do it. | 11% | 50 min25 min to 1.7 h | 100%Half by now | |
| Monitor process indicators, instruments, gauges, and meters to detect and report any possible problems.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a structured facility, Spot (Spot CAM+IR, FLIR MUVE C360, Enhanced Autonomy Payload) (Boston Dynamics) (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 9% | 25 min8 min to 50 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Operate auxiliary equipment and control multiple processing units during distilling or treating operations, moving controls that regulate valves, pumps, compressors, and auxiliary equipment.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Imubit Closed Loop AI Optimization (Optimizing Brain) (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 9% | 50 min17 min to 2.5 h | Stays with people | |
| Patrol units to monitor the amount of oil in storage tanks, and to verify that activities and operations are safe, efficient, and in compliance with regulations.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a structured facility, Spot (Boston Dynamics) at Chevron (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 8% | 38 min17 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Operate control panels to coordinate and regulate process variables such as temperature and pressure, and to direct product flow rate, according to process schedules.Done daily by most who do it. | 7% | 25 min13 min to 1.7 h | 100%Half by now | |
| Maintain and repair equipment, or report malfunctioning equipment to supervisors so that repairs can be scheduled.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 6% | 38 min13 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Coordinate shutdowns and major projects.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 6% | 5 h1.7 h to 2.1 work days | 73%Half by now | |
| Control or operate manifold and pumping systems to circulate liquids through a petroleum refinery.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Honeywell Experion PKS Blending & Movement — Movement Control (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 5% | 29 min13 min to 1.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Record and compile operating data, instrument readings, documentation, and results of laboratory analyses.Done daily by most who do it. AI observed on this task. | 4% | 25 min13 min to 50 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Inspect pipelines, tightening connections and lubricating valves as necessary.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Spot (with Spot CAM+IR, Enhanced Autonomy Payload, FLIR MUVE C360) (Boston Dynamics / Teledyne FLIR) (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 4% | 38 min17 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Verify that incoming and outgoing products are moving through the correct meters, and that meters are working properly.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Boston Dynamics Spot (with Spot CAM+IR, acoustic imager, Orbit) (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 4% | 17 min8 min to 38 min | Stays with people | |
| Read and analyze specifications, schedules, logs, test results, and laboratory recommendations to determine how to set equipment controls to produce the required qualities and quantities of products.Done daily by most who do it. | 4% | 33 min17 min to 1.1 h | 100%Half by now |
Within reach, per task: the share of the task's time whose instances are short enough for a model to finish at the chosen date, pace and reliability. Half by: the date half of that time comes within reach.
Jobs that share skills with this one
From O*NET's related occupations. Within reach now and by the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
Where this job works
The industry groups that employ the most of it (BLS, May 2025).
Where the most of these jobs are
The metro areas with the most people in it (BLS, May 2025).
Questions about this job
- How much of the work of Petroleum Pump System Operators, Refinery Operators, and Gaugers is within reach of AI now?
- An estimated 45% of the working time is within reach of AI models now and 47% by the end of 2028, on METR's long-run pace at four in five. Within reach means a model could finish work that long at that reliability. It is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings.
- Which tasks of Petroleum Pump System Operators, Refinery Operators, and Gaugers come within reach first?
- Weighted by the time each takes, the tasks with the most within reach now (projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index) are: Plan movement of products through lines to processing, storage, and shipping units, using knowledge of system interconnections and capacities (100% of the task's time now); Monitor process indicators, instruments, gauges, and meters to detect and report any possible problems (100% of the task's time now); and Operate control panels to coordinate and regulate process variables such as temperature and pressure, and to direct product flow rate, according to process schedules (100% of the task's time now).
- Which tasks of Petroleum Pump System Operators, Refinery Operators, and Gaugers stay with people?
- Tasks that are people work or body work are not counted as within reach at any date. The largest: Operate auxiliary equipment and control multiple processing units during distilling or treating operations, moving controls that regulate valves, pumps, compressors, and auxiliary equipment; Patrol units to monitor the amount of oil in storage tanks, and to verify that activities and operations are safe, efficient, and in compliance with regulations; and Maintain and repair equipment, or report malfunctioning equipment to supervisors so that repairs can be scheduled. Together such tasks are about 53% of the working time.
- Do people already use AI for the work of Petroleum Pump System Operators, Refinery Operators, and Gaugers?
- In the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled for May 2026, no reportable share went to this job's tasks. Anthropic's labor market measure puts the share of the job's tasks seen in real Claude use at work at 4%. These are measures of use, not of how much of the work AI could finish, and they cover Claude only.
- Can robots do the physical work of Petroleum Pump System Operators, Refinery Operators, and Gaugers?
- Anthropic's robot exposure rating (September 2026) finds 65% of the working time is physical work, and that a robot has been shown doing most of the task, somewhere, for 59% of the working time, 33% in a structured facility. Its index is 0.92 of 3. One example: Spot (Spot CAM+IR, FLIR MUVE C360, Enhanced Autonomy Payload) for "monitor process indicators, instruments, gauges, and meters to detect and report any possible problems". A robot shown somewhere is not one in every workplace; this site's own estimates still count no physical work as within reach.
- How is this estimated?
- From the 24 tasks O*NET lists for the occupation, each with an estimated length checked against GDPval and a share of the working time, each classed as desk, people or body work, and METR's measurements of how long a task the best AI models can finish, carried forward to the date from the latest, Claude Mythos Preview (early) in April 2026. Data checked November 10, 2026.
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