Petroleum & Mining Engineering

Getting oil, gas, metals and minerals out of the earth: drilling wells miles deep, blasting rock and running mines.

Top pay: highest pay, longest training

Petroleum Engineer: Figures out how to get oil and natural gas out of the ground safely and profitably. Typical pay $141k.
Reservoir Engineer: Estimates how much oil or gas is trapped underground and plans how to pump out as much as possible. Typical pay $145k.
Drilling Engineer: Designs how a well will be drilled, sometimes miles down and then sideways, and keeps the drilling safe. Typical pay $140k.
Completions Engineer: Designs how a drilled well gets finished and fractured so oil and gas can flow out. Typical pay $135k.
Petrophysicist: Reads the signals sent up by tools lowered into a well to figure out what rocks and fluids are down there. Typical pay $150k.
Production Engineer (Oil & Gas): Keeps oil and gas wells flowing as much as possible once they're drilled. Typical pay $135k.
Pipeline Integrity Engineer: Finds weak spots in oil, gas and hydrogen pipelines before they leak. Typical pay $110k.
Carbon Storage (CCS) Engineer: Designs wells and underground reservoirs that permanently store captured carbon dioxide. Typical pay $135k.
Well Control Specialist (Wild Well Firefighter): Flies anywhere in the world to kill out-of-control oil and gas well blowouts and fires. Typical pay $150k.

Mid pay: solid pay, degree or apprenticeship

Mining Engineer: Designs mines and plans how to safely dig out minerals like copper, lithium and gold. Typical pay $101k.
Geological Engineer: Combines geology and engineering to make sure mines, tunnels, dams and slopes are built on solid ground. Typical pay $98k.
Mine Safety Engineer: Protects miners by designing ventilation, escape routes and safety systems. Typical pay $100k.
Blasting Engineer: Designs explosive blasts that break rock in mines, quarries and construction sites. Typical pay $95k.
Mineral Processing Engineer: Designs plants that crush rock and separate out valuable metals like copper, gold and lithium. Typical pay $100k.
Mine Planning Engineer: Builds the schedule of what gets dug where and when, sometimes for decades ahead. Typical pay $100k.
Directional Driller: Steers a drill bit miles underground to hit a target the size of a room. Typical pay $100k.
Mud Logger: Analyzes rock chips and gases that come up with drilling mud to tell the crew what's happening deep underground. Typical pay $62k.
Rotary Drill Operator: Runs the controls of the drilling rig that bores wells. Typical pay $64k.
Underground Mining Machine Operator: Runs the big machines that cut coal and minerals deep underground. Typical pay $65k.
Mine Ventilation Engineer: Designs the giant fans and air paths that keep underground miners breathing safely. Typical pay $100k.
Ground Control (Rock Mechanics) Engineer: Keeps mine tunnels and open-pit walls from collapsing. Typical pay $100k.
Mine Reclamation Specialist: Turns old mines back into forests, prairies, lakes or solar farms. Typical pay $85k.
Wireline Field Engineer: Lowers high-tech sensors down oil, gas and geothermal wells to measure rock and fluids miles underground. Typical pay $100k.
Oilfield Fishing Tool Supervisor: Gets broken drill pipe and lost tools out of the bottom of wells two miles deep, using hooks, magnets and "jars." Typical pay $100k.
Mine Examiner (Fireboss): Goes into an underground coal mine before each shift to check for explosive gas, bad air and loose roof so miners can enter safely. Typical pay $80k.
Mine Hoist Operator: Runs the giant elevator that drops miners and ore cages thousands of feet down a mine shaft and back. Typical pay $75k.

Starter: fastest way in

Roustabout: Does the physical work of keeping oil and gas rigs and wells running. Typical pay $48k.
Hydraulic Fracturing Crew Operator: Runs the big pump trucks that crack open rock deep underground to release oil and gas. Typical pay $54k.
Placer Gold Miner: Digs gold-bearing gravel from creeks and old riverbeds, mostly in Alaska, and washes it through sluices to catch the gold. Typical pay $52k.

Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.