AI exposure: Derrick Operators, Oil and Gas
Rig derrick equipment and operate pumps to circulate mud or fluid through drill hole.
Reading this score
computedDerrick Operators, Oil and Gas is among the least exposed occupations measured, at 5.9% of weighted task load, rank 867 of 923. 87.3% of this job is work current AI systems cannot produce at all. That is not a statement about skill or value. It is a statement about what these systems can and cannot do.
What holds the line here is embodiment. Across this occupation's 15 tasks it averages 2.80 out of 3, the highest of the five friction dimensions. In plain terms, the work has to happen in physical space. A language model cannot move matter. Until the robotics to do this work is both good enough and cheap enough to deploy widely, capability in software does not reach it.
The most exposed thing this job does is Start pumps that circulate mud through drill pipes and boreholes to cool drill bits and flush..., at 33.3%. The least is Set and bolt crown blocks to posts at tops of derricks, at 0.0%. A gap of 33.3% between two parts of the same job is the reason this index publishes at task level. An occupation-wide number would have hidden both.
Within construction and extraction occupations, this one is more exposed than most. The median across the 61 roles in the group is 5.0%, and only 28 of them score higher than this. Occupational families are not uniform, and the spread inside them is often wider than the gap between them.
What would move this score. Of 15 tasks, 1 are currently banded exposed, 1 assisted and 13 untouched. For that distribution to shift materially would take robotics cheap and reliable enough to deploy at scale, not a better language model. The score is re-computed every quarter against a fresh capability reference, and the change is published rather than quietly applied.
Where the score comes from
judgedEvery task is scored through the standardised work activities it maps to. These are this occupation’s averages on the six rubric dimensions. Capability is what AI can do; the other five are what stands in the way.
| Dimension | Mean | Scale |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | 0.49 | 0-4 |
| Embodiment | 2.80 | 0-3 |
| Presence | 0.68 | 0-3 |
| Accountability | 1.20 | 0-3 |
| Context | 1.30 | 0-3 |
| Verification cost | 1.66 | 0-3 |
Task by task
15 tasks, O*NET 31.0| Task | Exposed | Assisted | Untouched | Importance | Band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Start pumps that circulate mud through drill pipes and boreholes to cool drill bits and flush out drill cuttings. | 33.3% | 16.7% | 50.0% | 4.69 | exposed |
| Prepare mud reports, and instruct crews about the handling of any chemical additives. | 31.2% | 31.2% | 37.5% | 4.44 | assisted |
| Inspect derricks, or order their inspection, prior to being raised or lowered. | 10.0% | 15.0% | 75.0% | 4.61 | untouched |
| Listen to mud pumps and check regularly for vibration and other problems to ensure that rig pumps and drilling mud systems are working properly. | 5.0% | 20.0% | 75.0% | 4.64 | untouched |
| Inspect derricks for flaws, and clean and oil derricks to maintain proper working conditions. | 4.4% | 3.9% | 91.7% | 4.40 | untouched |
| Supervise crew members, and provide assistance in training them. | 2.9% | 9.6% | 87.5% | 4.39 | untouched |
| Control the viscosity and weight of the drilling fluid. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.64 | untouched |
| Position and align derrick elements, using harnesses and platform climbing devices. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.42 | untouched |
| Repair pumps, mud tanks, and related equipment. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.34 | untouched |
| Steady pipes during connection to or disconnection from drill or casing strings. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.22 | untouched |
| Weigh clay, and mix with water and chemicals to make drilling mud, using portable mixers. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.21 | untouched |
| Guide lengths of pipe into and out of elevators. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.21 | untouched |
| Clamp holding fixtures on ends of hoisting cables. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.09 | untouched |
| String cables through pulleys and blocks. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.06 | untouched |
| Set and bolt crown blocks to posts at tops of derricks. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.37 | untouched |
Task text and importance ratings sourced from O*NET 31.0. Shares computed. The occupation score is the importance-weighted mean.
Occupations either side of this one
The four closest scores in the same occupational family, then the four closest anywhere in the index.
Read this carefully. Exposure is not displacement. A high score means current AI systems can produce this work, not that anyone will stop paying a person to do it. Adoption depends on economics, regulation and inertia that this index deliberately does not model. How the score is built.
What this means in practice
Most of this work is not reachable by current systems, so the immediate pressure is on the administrative edges of the role rather than its core: the scheduling, the reporting, the written records. That is where time is recovered.