Roustabouts, Oil and Gas
Assemble or repair oil field equipment using hand and power tools. Perform other tasks as needed.
44,970 people do this job in the US. $46,960 a year.
of the working time. Estimate.
- 0%
- 0%
- 100%
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, 0%. Today's estimate: 0%.
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 . 13 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lay gas and oil pipelines.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 43% | 5 h1.7 h to 1.7 work days | Stays with people | |
| Dismantle and repair oil field machinery, boilers, and steam engine parts, using hand tools and power tools.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 11% | 2.5 h50 min to 6.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Move pipes to and from trucks, using truck winches and motorized lifts, or by hand.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 10% | 1.3 h25 min to 3.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Unscrew or tighten pipes, casing, tubing, and pump rods, using hand and power wrenches and tongs.Done daily by most who do it. | 8% | 25 min8 min to 1.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Dig holes, set forms, and mix and pour concrete into forms to make foundations for wood or steel derricks.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 7% | 6.7 h2.5 h to 2.1 work days | Stays with people | |
| Walk flow lines to locate leaks, using electronic detectors and by making visual inspections, and repair the leaks.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 5% | 1.7 h38 min to 5 h | Stays with people | |
| Clean trucks used in the fields.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 5% | 50 min25 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Dig drainage ditches around wells and storage tanks.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 3% | 3.3 h1.7 h to 6.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Bolt together pump and engine parts.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 2% | 50 min17 min to 2.1 h | Stays with people | |
| Cut down and remove trees and brush to clear drill sites, to reduce fire hazards, and to make way for roads to sites.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 2% | 5 h1.7 h to 1.7 work days | Stays with people | |
| Supply equipment to rig floors as requested and provide assistance to roughnecks.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 2% | 38 min13 min to 1.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Guide cranes to move loads about decks.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 1% | 25 min13 min to 50 min | 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.
- Rotary Drill Operators, Oil and Gas5% now, 5% by 2028
- Service Unit Operators, Oil and Gas12% now, 14% by 2028
- Hoist and Winch Operators0% now, 0% by 2028
- Helpers--Extraction Workers0% now, 0% by 2028
- Riggers7% now, 7% by 2028
- Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators9% now, 9% by 2028
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).