Rotary Drill Operators, Oil and Gas
Set up or operate a variety of drills to remove underground oil and gas, or remove core samples for testing during oil and gas exploration.
12,600 people do this job in the US. $67,890 a year.
of the working time. Estimate.
- 5%
- 20%
- 75%
Measured, from Anthropic's usage data (2025). Counts help on part of a task.
On the chosen pace and reliability. Estimate.
Share of the working time within reach, now to 2030
What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .
At this date and pace, models finish tasks up to 4.4 h 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, 0%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 5%. Today's estimate: 5%.
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.
The tasks
Sorted by . 21 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Direct rig crews in drilling and other activities, such as setting up rigs and completing or servicing wells.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 20% | 3.3 h50 min to 1.3 work days | Stays with people | |
| Train crews, and introduce procedures to make drill work more safe and effective.Done daily by most who do it. | 20% | 5 h1.7 h to 1 work day | Stays with people | |
| Maintain and adjust machinery to ensure proper performance.Done daily by most who do it. | 8% | 1.3 h25 min to 3.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Monitor progress of drilling operations, and select and change drill bits according to the nature of strata, using hand tools.Done daily by most who do it. | 6% | 1.3 h25 min to 3.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Maintain records of footage drilled, location and nature of strata penetrated, materials and tools used, services rendered, and time required.Done daily by most who do it. | 5% | 38 min13 min to 1.3 h | 98%Half by now | |
| Observe pressure gauge and move throttles and levers to control the speed of rotary tables, and to regulate pressure of tools at bottoms of boreholes.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 5% | 25 min13 min to 1.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Plug observation wells, and restore sites.Done yearly or less by most who do it. | 5% | 5 h1.7 h to 1.7 work days | Stays with people | |
| Weigh clay, and mix with water and chemicals to make drilling mud.Done daily by most who do it. | 4% | 50 min25 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Connect sections of drill pipe, using hand tools and powered wrenches and tongs.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 4% | 25 min13 min to 1.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Repair or replace defective parts of machinery, such as rotary drill rigs, water trucks, air compressors, and pumps, using hand tools.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 4% | 2.5 h50 min to 6.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Push levers and brake pedals to control gasoline, diesel, electric, or steam draw works that lower and raise drill pipes and casings in and out of wells.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 4% | 21 min8 min to 50 min | Stays with people | |
| Line drilled holes with pipes, and install all necessary hardware, to prepare new wells.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 3% | 5 h1.7 h to 2.1 work days | Stays with people |
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).