Construction and Extraction · Holland code RCI
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.
Also called: Drill Operator, Driller, Oil Well Driller, Rotary Driller, Daylight Driller, Motor Man, Oil Rig Driller, Relief Driller.
O*NET 47-5012.00
At a glance
- US median annual pay
- $67,890
- Middle half earn $53,810 to $81,360. BLS OEWS, May 2025.
- Most common education
- Less than a High School Diploma
- 31% of workers surveyed by O*NET report this level.
- Preparation needed
- Job Zone 2 of 5
- Some preparation. Zone 1 is little or none; zone 5 is graduate-level.
What the work involves
The tasks workers in this occupation rate as most important, from the O*NET survey.
- Train crews, and introduce procedures to make drill work more safe and effective.
- 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.
- Maintain records of footage drilled, location and nature of strata penetrated, materials and tools used, services rendered, and time required.
- 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.
- Connect sections of drill pipe, using hand tools and powered wrenches and tongs.
- Count sections of drill rod to determine depths of boreholes.
- Maintain and adjust machinery to ensure proper performance.
- Direct rig crews in drilling and other activities, such as setting up rigs and completing or servicing wells.
Skills and knowledge it leans on
Skills
- Critical Thinking3.6 / 5
- Monitoring3.5 / 5
- Active Listening3.4 / 5
- Speaking3.3 / 5
- Reading Comprehension3.1 / 5
- Writing3.0 / 5
Knowledge areas
- Mechanical3.9 / 5
- Mathematics3.8 / 5
- Administration and Management3.3 / 5
- Education and Training3.2 / 5
- Personnel and Human Resources3.1 / 5
- Public Safety and Security2.8 / 5
Importance ratings on O*NET’s 1 to 5 scale. Higher means the occupation depends on it more.
Who tends to enjoy it
How strongly this occupation draws on each of the six Holland interest types, which is the same profile the career interests test compares you against.
- Realistic100
- Investigative34
- Artistic0
- Social3
- Enterprising20
- Conventional46
The same work abroad
Other countries classify jobs differently, so these are the closest matches through the international ISCO-08 standard, not exact equivalents.
European occupation titles (ESCO)
- drilling engineer · DE Bohringenieur/Bohringenieurin · FR ingénieur de forage/ingénieure de forage
- metal nibbling operator · DE Metallstanzer/Metallstanzerin · FR grignoteur/grignoteuse
- drilling machine operator · DE CNC-Bohrer/CNC-Bohrerin · FR opérateur sur perceuse/opératrice sur perceuse
- driller · DE Bohranlagenbediener/Bohranlagenbedienerin · FR foreur de roche/foreuse de roche
- derrickhand · DE Bühnenmann/Bühnenfrau · FR accrocheur/accrocheuse
- drill operator · DE Bohrmeister/Bohrmeisterin · FR foreur chef de poste/foreuse chef de poste
Closest UK occupation groups (SOC 2020)
- Metal machining setters and setter-operators (5221)40,400 employed
- Metal working machine operatives (8120)28,100 employed
- Mining and quarry workers and related operatives (8132)9,200 employed
Employment is the UK Annual Population Survey for April 2025 to March 2026, all workers in the group, which can be broader than this one occupation.
Pay across Europe, for the whole group
Median annual earnings of all employees in “Plant and machine operators and assemblers”. This is the broad ISCO group this occupation falls in, not the occupation itself, so treat it as context for the wage level, not as a salary for this job.
| Country | Median pay |
|---|---|
| Belgium | €39,630 |
| Netherlands | €37,567 |
| Austria | €37,304 |
| Sweden | €36,005 |
| Germany | €34,433 |
| Ireland | €32,617 |
| France | €28,550 |
| Italy | €28,330 |
| Spain | €24,409 |
| Portugal | €11,309 |
| Poland | €10,259 |
Eurostat Structure of Earnings Survey, businesses with ten or more employees outside public administration, in euro and not adjusted for the cost of living. Reference years differ between sources: the US, Japan and Europe figures on this page come from different survey years, so compare them as rough levels, not to the euro or yen.
Exposure to AI
This occupation sits in the lower third of the 774 occupations scored, with an exposure score of -0.77. The scores are standardized across those occupations, so 0 is the average and a score of 1 is about one standard deviation above it.
Our note on reading it: the dataset links AI applications to the abilities that occupations require, so the score reflects overlap between the two. It is a comparison between occupations, not a forecast about jobs. It does not say whether exposure means tasks are replaced or workers get more done with the tools, and it says little about one employer or one role.
Source: Felten, E., Raj, M., & Seamans, R. (2021). Occupational, industry, and geographic exposure to artificial intelligence: A novel dataset and its potential uses. Strategic Management Journal, 42(12), 2195-2217. Matched to this page by 6-digit SOC code (47-5012).
Related careers
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