Will AI replace Rotary Drill Operators, Oil and Gas?
Estimated risk score: 13 out of 100
Very low replacement risk
Estimate from published task research, not reviewed by a person · how we estimate
Within about 19 points for 4 in 5 of the jobs we checked (0 to 32).
For the occupation as a whole, from ratings of its 22 O*NET tasks published in 2023 and calibrated to our hand scores. A specialty inside it can sit higher or lower.
O*NET-SOC 47-5012.00 · Construction and Extraction
Tasks rated in 2023 as ones AI could do or speed up
Tasks a GPT-4-class model could do, or do in half the time or less: 1 of its 22 rated tasks. In O*NET’s words.
- Maintain records of footage drilled, location and nature of strata penetrated, materials and tools used, services rendered, and time required.
Tasks rated in 2023 as not sped up by AI
Tasks such a model was rated as not speeding up or taking over: 21 of its 22 rated tasks; the first 6 are shown. In O*NET’s words.
- Bolt together pump and engine parts, and connect tanks and flow lines.
- Clean and oil pulleys, blocks, and cables.
- Connect sections of drill pipe, using hand tools and powered wrenches and tongs.
- Count sections of drill rod to determine depths of boreholes.
- Locate and recover lost or broken bits, casings, and drill pipes from wells, using special tools.
- Maintain and adjust machinery to ensure proper performance.
What the job is
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.
Also called: Daylight Driller, Motor Man, Derrickhand, Oil Driller, Spud Driller, Cable Driller, Sonic Driller, Relief Driller.
Closest jobs we score by hand
In the same field (Construction and Extraction). Different jobs, each scored by a person.
Source. This site includes information from the O*NET 30.1 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications. (O*NET, CC BY 4.0.) Task ratings: Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin and Rock (2023), “GPTs are GPTs: An Early Look at the Labor Market Impact Potential of Large Language Models”, data used under the MIT licence (licence texts). Our change: we averaged the ratings over this occupation’s tasks and calibrated them to our 0–100 scale. It is not a prediction about any one person and not career advice. Disagree? Write to hello@yourstopwashit.com. How we estimate