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AI Automation Index
Will AI Replace Petroleum Engineers?
Task-level automation exposure for Petroleum Engineers: 23 O*NET tasks scored against their work activities, plus the simulator.
E-E-A-T Verified
Developed & audited by Gini Loh Automation Exposure
50%
weighted task index
23 of 23 tasks scored
Median Salary
$144,910 / year
BLS OEWS, May 2025 — this exact occupation
Employment Level
Low
18,060 people hold this job — size, not growth
Projected 2025–35
+2.0%
employment change
1,000 openings a year · BLS line item
Pay by state
BLS OEWS publishes 16 state estimates for this occupation. Each is its own survey estimate, not the national median adjusted for local prices.
$93,360 – $206,290
Highest medians
Alaska $206,290
Utah $172,840
Colorado $172,190
Texas $164,860
Oklahoma $153,020
Lowest medians
West Virginia $93,360
Ohio $99,260
New Mexico $99,900
Nebraska $100,800
Pennsylvania $101,880
State figures come from the 17-2171 row in the May 2025 state panel. States where the estimate was suppressed or too small to publish are absent.
What the score is made of
Each task is mapped to its work activities, scored for AI automation potential, and weighted by how important those activities are to the job. These are the components.
Automation potential 50%
Importance-weighted mean of the scored tasks. This is the headline index.
Physical work 3%
Share of weighted tasks in hands-on or machine-operating work activities.
Judgment & influence 50%
Share in analysis, decisions, teaching, directing, advising, or caring for others.
Routine administration 10%
Share in documenting, recording, and administrative activities.
Rewritten by O*NET 0%
Share of weighted tasks O*NET rewrote in a recent update. Reported, not folded into the score.
Consequence of error 10/100
Low
O*NET's own rating of how serious an uncorrectable mistake would be here — respondents, not us. Deliberately not in the index: the score measures what AI can do with the task content, and multiplying it by stakes would be our judgment dressed as data.
Constituent Task Mix
23 tasks for this occupation, weighted by work-activity importance. Shares below are of total task weight, not task count.
High exposure (≥ 60% of the task is automatable) 39%
8 tasks
Medium exposure (≥ 35%) 40%
9 tasks
Low exposure (below 35%) 20%
6 tasks
How would you survive?
Move your week away from the high-exposure tasks and toward the ones that need judgment. The simulator recalculates the index as you shift the mix.
Simulate Upskilling →Emerging & rewritten tasks
Tasks O*NET added or rewrote for this occupation in its recent updates (05/2025 – 08/2026), with who proposed them. Additions are not in the scored task inventory — they are new work O*NET is still measuring, so they appear here and nowhere in the index. A Revision replaces a task that is scored, which is why only those move the "Rewritten by O*NET" share.
- New 05/2025 · AI/SME
Use drone technology for aerial surveying and monitoring of drilling sites.
Constituent Tasks
#3582 · Core · 39% automatable
Specify and supervise well modification and stimulation programs to maximize oil and gas recovery.
decision support — Operational methods aided; human decides
Determine operational methods. Direct energy production or management activities.
#3580 · Core · 60% automatable
Monitor production rates, and plan rework processes to improve production.
data analysis — Efficiency metrics are digital and analyzable by AI
Monitor the productivity or efficiency of industrial operations. Develop technical methods or processes.
#3586 · Core · 75% automatable
Maintain records of drilling and production operations.
data analysis — Maintain records systems; human owns integrity
Maintain operational records or records systems.
#3581 · Core · 65% automatable
Analyze data to recommend placement of wells and supplementary processes to enhance production.
data analysis — Analyzes survey/physical data; human checks quality
Analyze physical, survey, or geographic data.
#3584 · Core · 45% automatable
Assist engineering and other personnel to solve operating problems.
decision support — AI diagnoses; human executes operational fixes
Resolve operational performance problems.
#3583 · Core · 35% automatable
Direct and monitor the completion and evaluation of wells, well testing, or well surveys.
interpersonal — Directing QC needs human oversight of physical processes
Direct quality control activities.
#3585 · Core · 72% automatable
Develop plans for oil and gas field drilling, and for product recovery and treatment.
text generation — Detailed work plans drafted from specifications
Prepare detailed work plans.
#3579 · Core · 70% automatable
Assess costs and estimate the production capabilities and economic value of oil and gas wells, to evaluate the economic viability of potential drilling sites.
data analysis — Cost-benefit analysis from given inputs; human reviews
Analyze costs and benefits of proposed designs or projects.
#3587 · Core · 58% automatable
Confer with scientific, engineering, and technical personnel to resolve design, research, and testing problems.
decision support — Design problem conferral aided; accountability stays human
Confer with other personnel to resolve design or operational problems.
#3591 · Core · 58% automatable
Interpret drilling and testing information for personnel.
decision support — AI explains specs; contextual engineering judgment human
Explain engineering drawings, specifications, or other technical information.
#3598 · Core · 35% automatable
Coordinate activities of workers engaged in research, planning, and development.
interpersonal — Directing design work needs accountability and judgment
Direct design or development activities.
#3588 · Core · 78% automatable
Write technical reports for engineering and management personnel.
text generation — Internal technical reports drafted; human reviews
Prepare technical reports for internal use.
#3589 · Core · 66% automatable
Evaluate findings to develop, design, or test equipment or processes.
data analysis — Interprets test results; context and judgment needed
Interpret design or operational test results.
#3600 · Supplemental · 30% automatable
Test machinery and equipment to ensure that it is safe and conforms to performance specifications.
data analysis — AI interprets results; human runs physical tests
Test performance of electrical, electronic, mechanical, or integrated systems or equipment.
#3590 · Supplemental · 30% automatable
Assign work to staff to obtain maximum utilization of personnel.
interpersonal — Supervising engineers needs accountability and motivation
Supervise engineering or other technical personnel.
#3596 · Supplemental · 60% automatable
Simulate reservoir performance for different recovery techniques, using computer models.
data analysis — AI builds computational models; engineer validates assumptions
Create models of engineering designs or methods.
#3592 · Supplemental · 38% automatable
Design and implement environmental controls on oil and gas operations.
decision support — AI assists design; engineering and regulatory validation human
Design environmental control systems.
#3594 · Supplemental · 28% automatable
Supervise the removal of drilling equipment, the removal of any waste, and the safe return of land to structural stability when wells or pockets are exhausted.
decision support — Energy operations direction needs real-time human control
Direct energy production or management activities.
#3595 · Supplemental · 20% automatable
Inspect oil and gas wells to determine that installations are completed.
visual inspection — Equipment/system inspection requires physical presence
Inspect equipment or systems.
#3593 · Supplemental · 26% automatable
Coordinate the installation, maintenance, and operation of mining and oil field equipment.
physical manipulation — Directing repair activities involves hands-on equipment work
Direct installation activities. Direct equipment maintenance or repair activities. Direct energy production or management activities.
#3597 · Supplemental · 8% automatable
Take samples to assess the amount and quality of oil, the depth at which resources lie, and the equipment needed to properly extract them.
physical manipulation — Hands-on material sampling
Collect samples of raw materials or finished products.
#3599 · Supplemental · 45% automatable
Design or modify mining and oil field machinery and tools, applying engineering principles.
decision support — AI drafts equipment designs; engineer owns manufacturability
Design industrial equipment.
#3601 · Supplemental · 40% automatable
Conduct engineering research experiments to improve or modify mining and oil machinery and operations.
data analysis — Design analysis aided; simulation and build human
Research advanced engineering designs or applications.
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How this was scored
- 1. Tasks. O*NET task statements for this occupation, from a release whose newest record is dated 08/2026.
- 2. Work activities. Each task maps to 1–5 Detailed Work Activities; each activity belongs to one of 41 Generalized Work Activities that O*NET rates for importance (1–5) in this occupation.
- 3. Automation potential. Every work activity carries one score for how far current AI can perform it end-to-end. Tasks inherit the mean of their activities.
- 4. Weighting. Task weight = 0.35 + 0.65 × (importance − 1)/4, scaled by how often the task is performed and by 0.7 for Supplemental tasks. Importance is the task's own O*NET rating where it exists (18,369 of 18,838 tasks); the rest inherit their work activities' importance. The index is the weighted mean.
Check: across the 910 occupations where O*NET also rates how far machine speed sets the pace, this index moves opposite to it (Spearman ρ = -0.49). The more a job is paced by equipment, the less of its task content AI can address — the relationship you would expect if the scoring is working.
Sources · O*NET 31.0 (task records to 08/2026) · BLS OEWS May 2025 · BLS projections 2025-2035 · rubric v2.1 · tasks for O*NET, not a forecast
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