--- title: "Petroleum Engineer" description: "Devise methods to improve oil and gas extraction and production and determine the need for new or modified tool designs. Oversee drilling and offer…" canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/petroleum-engineer" last-updated: "2026-10-09T10:57:55.138Z" --- # Petroleum Engineer **Category:** Architecture and Engineering · **SOC code:** 17-2171 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 17-2171.00 Devise methods to improve oil and gas extraction and production and determine the need for new or modified tool designs. Oversee drilling and offer technical advice. Also advertised as: Completion Engineer; Drilling Engineer; Engineer; Operations Engineer; Petroleum Engineer; Petroleum Production Engineer; Project Production Engineer; Project Reservoir Engineer. ## At a glance - **Median annual wage:** $144,910 (BLS OEWS, May 2025) - **Median hourly wage:** $69.67/hr - **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $81,440 to $253,200, with the middle half between $106,270 and $197,920 - **Total US employment:** 18,060 - **Typical entry education:** Bachelor's - **Preparation required:** Medium preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed" - **Projected growth:** +2.0% over 2025–2035 (BLS EP, 2025–2035) - **Annual job openings:** 1,000 openings a year - **AI-resilience score:** 21/100 — a NueCareer heuristic over O\*NET work activities and context, not a BLS or O\*NET figure ## Pay National wage distribution, BLS OEWS, May 2025, across 18,060 US jobs. | Percentile | Annual wage | | --- | --- | | 10th | $81,440 | | 25th | $106,270 | | 50th (median) | $144,910 | | 75th | $197,920 | | 90th | $253,200 | | Mean (average) | $157,150 | ### Pay by state The 15 highest-paying states, by median annual wage. The cost-of-living-adjusted column divides the state median by that state's BEA Regional Price Parity, so the columns answer different questions: the first is what the job pays there, the second is what that pay buys there. | State | Median annual wage | Cost-of-living adjusted | Employment | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | AK | $206,290 | $201,536 | 280 | | UT | $172,840 | $174,826 | 280 | | CO | $172,190 | $167,090 | 1,390 | | TX | $164,860 | $169,859 | 9,140 | | OK | $153,020 | $174,197 | 1,450 | | CA | $143,590 | $129,688 | 1,060 | | LA | $139,640 | $158,309 | 710 | | WA | $134,800 | $125,966 | 190 | | ND | $132,120 | $148,518 | 130 | | KS | $115,640 | $128,392 | 110 | | MT | $104,060 | $109,948 | Not published by BLS | | PA | $101,880 | $104,415 | 600 | | NE | $100,800 | $111,872 | 150 | | NM | $99,900 | $108,337 | 260 | | OH | $99,260 | $106,991 | 200 | 1 more state with published wage data is omitted here. The full table for all 16 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/petroleum-engineer/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/petroleum-engineer. ## Outlook BLS projects employment to move from 18,500 in the 2025–2035 base year to 18,800 by the end of the cycle — a gain of 400 jobs, or +2.0%. Slower than average: 2.0% against 3.5% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 1,000 openings a year are expected on average, counting openings from growth as well as from workers leaving the occupation permanently. Source: BLS EP, 2025–2035. ## How to get in - **Typical entry education:** Bachelor's degree (BLS Employment Projections). - **Preparation level:** Medium preparation — O\*NET's preparation band for this occupation is "Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed". - **Related work experience typically required:** None. - **Typical on-the-job training:** None. ### Education people in this job actually hold O\*NET surveys incumbents, so this distribution describes who is in the job today and can differ from the BLS entry requirement above. | Education level | Share of workers | | --- | --- | | Bachelor's Degree | 71.6% | | Post-Master's Certificate | 15.4% | | High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) | 7.6% | | Master's Degree | 5.4% | ## What the work involves - Assist engineering and other personnel to solve operating problems. - Write technical reports for engineering and management personnel. - Specify and supervise well modification and stimulation programs to maximize oil and gas recovery. - Assess costs and estimate the production capabilities and economic value of oil and gas wells, to evaluate the economic viability of potential drilling sites. - Monitor production rates, and plan rework processes to improve production. - Evaluate findings to develop, design, or test equipment or processes. - Confer with scientific, engineering, and technical personnel to resolve design, research, and testing problems. - Direct and monitor the completion and evaluation of wells, well testing, or well surveys. ## Skills and knowledge ### Essential skills - Reading Comprehension — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Critical Thinking — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Active Listening — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Writing — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Speaking — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Active Learning — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Monitoring — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Science — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale ### Transferable skills These are the skills that carry into other occupations, and they drive the related-occupation and career-change rankings on this site. - Complex Problem Solving — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Judgment and Decision Making — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Systems Analysis — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Systems Evaluation — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Social Perceptiveness — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Coordination — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Time Management — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Persuasion — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale ### Knowledge areas - Engineering and Technology — importance 4.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Mathematics — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Physics — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Computers and Electronics — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Chemistry — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Administration and Management — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale ### Abilities - Oral Comprehension — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Written Comprehension — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Oral Expression — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Written Expression — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Problem Sensitivity — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Deductive Reasoning — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale ## Who it suits O\*NET rates every occupation on the six Holland (RIASEC) interest areas, on a 1–7 scale. This occupation's strongest areas are Realistic (R), Investigative (I), Conventional (C). | Interest area | Score (1–7) | | --- | --- | | R — Realistic | 5.37 | | I — Investigative | 5.33 | | C — Conventional | 4.32 | | E — Enterprising | 3.04 | | A — Artistic | 1.92 | | S — Social | 1.78 | ### Personality fit These scores are **derived by NueCareer**, not published by any government agency: they are cosine similarities between a personality type's trait profile and this occupation's O\*NET interest and work-style ratings, expressed 0–100. Treat them as a starting point for exploration, not as evidence that a type belongs in a job. | Type | Fit score (0–100) | | --- | --- | | ISTJ | 90.9 | | ISTP | 84.4 | | INTJ | 82.5 | | ESTJ | 69.6 | | INTP | 63.6 | Best-fitting types: ISTJ. ## Related occupations O\*NET's primary related occupations, in its own ranked order. - [Mining and Geological Engineer, Including Mining Safety Engineers](https://nuecareer.com/careers/mining-and-geological-engineer) — median $106,220 - [Chemical Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/chemical-engineer) — median $125,040 - [Geothermal Production Manager](https://nuecareer.com/careers/geothermal-production-manager) — median $126,060 - [Water/Wastewater Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/water-wastewater-engineer) — median $100,840 - [Industrial Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/industrial-engineer) — median $102,440 - [Mechanical Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/mechanical-engineer) — median $104,110 - [Electrical Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/electrical-engineer) — median $120,630 - [Environmental Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/environmental-engineer) — median $107,110 - [Civil Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/civil-engineer) — median $100,840 - [Manufacturing Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/manufacturing-engineer) — median $102,440 ## Sources - **O\*NET** — O\*NET 31.0 Database, August 2026. https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html - **BLS OEWS** — BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. https://www.bls.gov/oes/ - **BLS EP** — BLS Employment Projections, Table 1.2, 2025–2035. https://www.bls.gov/emp/ - **BLS OOH** — BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2025–2035 edition. https://www.bls.gov/ooh/ - **BEA RPP** — BEA Regional Price Parities by State, 2024. https://www.bea.gov/data/prices-inflation/regional-price-parities-state-and-metro-area --- This bank includes information from the O\*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). O\*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. NueCareer has transformed the data by joining it to BLS wage and projection data and deriving facet, personality-fit and AI-resilience scores. BLS and BEA data are public domain (17 U.S.C. §105). O\*NET content is used under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). How these figures are sourced and derived: https://nuecareer.com/careers/methodology JSON representation of this page: https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/petroleum-engineer