Roustabouts, Oil and Gas
Construction and Extraction
On oil and gas sites, the work is tightening pipes, casing, and pump rods; taking apart and fixing machinery, boilers, and steam-engine parts; and bolting pump and engine pieces together. Crews walk flow lines to find leaks by sight or with detectors, lay pipelines, guide cranes on decks, and move pipe on and off trucks with winches, lifts, or by hand. Trucks used in the field get cleaned too. It is physical outdoor work with tools and heavy equipment. It suits people who like hands-on mechanical tasks, steady physical labor, and watching systems closely enough to catch a leak or a loose fitting.
Typical education: Less than a High School Diploma
Annual Median Wage in Field (2025)
$46'960
Median Wage Market Position
$46'960
What you might do
- Tighten pipes, casing, tubing, and pump rods
- Take apart and repair oil field machinery
- Lay oil and gas pipelines
- Find and fix leaks along flow lines
- Guide cranes moving loads around decks
- Move pipes on and off trucks
Skills that matter
- Pipe, casing, and pump-rod makeup
- Flow-line leak detection and repair
- Crane signaling for deck lifts
- Oil and gas pipeline laying
- Field-machinery teardown and repair
- Joint checks after a connection
AI & the future of this role
Oil-field assembly and repair involve varied physical tasks across changing well sites rather than fixed routines. Automation might handle some repetitive setups, yet tool use, improvisation, and on-site problem solving still tend to protect the role.
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Includes O*NET® 30.3 Database information by USDOL/ETA under CC BY 4.0; modified by LostInCareer. Wage/outlook from BLS. Attribution details