Drilling Engineer
What Does a Professional in this Career Do?
A Drilling Engineer provides the engineering plans required to drill oil or gas at a reservoir; develops plans for cost effective and safe drilling. Recommends drilling sites and test samples at sites.
Job Outlook
There were 6 Drilling Engineer job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 377 in the United States.
In combination with other careers in the Reservoir / Petroleum Engineer industry, which includes the Drilling Engineer career, the following graph shows the number of people employed for each year since 2015:
Salary
Many new Drilling Engineer jobs have salaries estimated to be in the following ranges, based on the requirements and responsibilities listed in job postings from the past year.
National
The average estimated salary in the United States for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $115,021.
State
The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $115,021.
Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for Drilling Engineer postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $86,899.
Education and Experience
Posted Drilling Engineer jobs typically require the following level of education. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list education requirements.
| Education Level | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Associate's Degree | 0% |
| Bachelor's Degree | 74.27% |
| Master's Degree | 28.12% |
| Doctoral Degree | 6.1% |
| Other | 10.08% |
Posted Drilling Engineer jobs typically require the following number of years of experience. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list experience requirements.
| Years of Experience | Percentage |
|---|---|
| 0 to 2 years | 15.09% |
| 3 to 5 years | 49.14% |
| 6 to 8 years | 13.79% |
| 9+ years | 21.98% |
Skills
Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills Drilling Engineer positions expect applicants to have as well as the most common skills that distinguish individuals from their peers. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is also listed.
Baseline Skills
A skill that is required across a broad range of occupations, including this one.
- Operations (67.64%)
- Communication (37.14%)
- Planning (35.28%)
- Problem Solving (25.99%)
- Management (25.2%)
- Leadership (21.49%)
- Troubleshooting (Problem Solving) (21.49%)
- Mentorship (20.95%)
- Interpersonal Communications (19.89%)
- Innovation (18.04%)
Defining Skills
A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.
- Casing Design (9.82%)
- Drilling Engineering (35.71%)
- Drilling Fluid (9.23%)
- Mud Systems (5.36%)
Necessary Skills
A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.
- Equipment Inspection (13.1%)
- Oil Well Workover (6.85%)
- Equipment Maintenance (13.1%)
- Auditing (6.55%)
- Automation (1.79%)
- Engineering Support (10.42%)
- Technical Support (7.14%)
- Directional Drilling (11.9%)
- Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) (8.33%)
- Benchmarking (8.63%)
- Data Entry (1.79%)
- Drilling (18.75%)
- Data Collection (14.88%)
- Engineering Design Process (6.55%)
- Petroleum Engineering (11.61%)
- Data Analysis (11.9%)
- Risk Management (4.46%)
- Invoicing (6.25%)
- Mechanical Engineering (10.42%)
- Hydraulics (10.12%)
- Geology (8.33%)
- Drilling Rig (8.63%)
- Procurement (6.25%)
- Project Management (14.58%)
- Mitigation (1.79%)
- Well Intervention (1.49%)
- Risk Analysis (11.9%)
- Performance Improvement (3.27%)
- Mechanics (14.58%)
- Effective Communication (13.1%)
- Environment Health And Safety (24.11%)
- Well Control (10.12%)
- Torque (Physics) (8.33%)
Distinguishing Skills
A skill that may distinguish a subset of the occupation.
- Bottom Hole Assembly (3.87%)
- Pore Water Pressure (3.27%)
Alternative Job Titles
Sometimes employers post jobs with Drilling Engineer skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:
- Engineering Intern
- Completions Engineer
- Summer Intern
- Process Application Engineer
- Staff Drilling Engineer
- Engineering Technician
- Drilling Manager
- Drilling Fluids Engineer
- Manufacturing/Production Engineer
Similar Occupations
If you are interested in exploring occupations with similar skills, you may want to research the following job titles. Note that we only list occupations that have at least one corresponding NC State Online and Distance Education program.
- Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) Manager
- Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) Coordinator
- Engineering Manager (General)
Common Employers
Here are the employers that have posted the most Drilling Engineer jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.
United States
- Baker Hughes (62)
- Baker Hughes International Holdings (20)
- ConocoPhillips (13)
- Gulfstream Aerospace (12)
- Halliburton (12)
- Occidental Petroleum (11)
- Insight Global (9)
- Aes Drilling Fluids (9)
- Airswift (7)
- NOV (6)
North Carolina
- Arinc International Of Canada Ulc (1)
- Pratt & Whitney (1)
- Donaldson (1)
- GE Aerospace (1)
- Sinto America (1)
All wages, job posting statistics, employment trend projections, and information about skill desirability on this page represents historical data and does not guarantee future conditions. Data is provided by and downloaded regularly from Lightcast. For more information about how Lightcast gathers data and what it represents, see Lightcast Data: Basic Overview on Lightcast's Knowledge Base website.