Editorial disclosure: This analysis is based on 79 entry-level and early-career job postings collected from operator career pages, LinkedIn, Indeed, Glassdoor, ZipRecruiter, and Rigzone between January 29 and March 10, 2026. Skill classifications follow the jobs.petropt.com taxonomy of 160+ O&G skills. Where salary data is reported, it reflects ranges listed in postings or verified through public sources. Not every posting discloses compensation.
Week of March 15, 2026 | Issue #1
This is the first installment of a weekly series. Every week, we analyze active entry-level and early-career job postings across the oil and gas industry to answer a simple question: what skills do employers actually want right now?
Not what industry reports say they want. Not what LinkedIn influencers claim they want. What the postings themselves -- the ones with "Apply" buttons -- actually list as required or preferred.
This week's dataset: 79 active postings across 40+ employers, from majors (Chevron, ExxonMobil, Shell, ConocoPhillips, BP) to large independents (EOG, Devon, Diamondback, Coterra, Permian Resources) to service companies (SLB, Baker Hughes, Halliburton, Nabors) to small operators and staffing firms.
The breakdown: 59 full-time positions and 20 internships. All entry-level or early-career (0-3 years experience). Locations span 15 cities across 7 states, though Texas dominates with 86% of postings.
Here is what the data says.
1. This Week's Top 20 Skills
We counted every skill mentioned as either "required" or "preferred" across all 79 postings. The percentage represents the share of all postings that mention the skill in any capacity.
| Rank | Skill | Postings | % of All Jobs | Required | Preferred |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Python | 19 | 24.1% | 5 | 14 |
| 2 | Drilling Engineering | 19 | 24.1% | 6 | 13 |
| 3 | Production Engineering | 18 | 22.8% | 7 | 11 |
| 4 | Communication Skills | 18 | 22.8% | 17 | 1 |
| 5 | Reservoir Engineering | 17 | 21.5% | 10 | 7 |
| 6 | Data Analysis | 17 | 21.5% | 6 | 11 |
| 7 | Mechanical Design | 15 | 19.0% | 3 | 12 |
| 8 | Excel | 14 | 17.7% | 4 | 10 |
| 9 | SQL | 10 | 12.7% | 7 | 3 |
| 10 | Instrument Calibration | 9 | 11.4% | 2 | 7 |
| 11 | HSE | 9 | 11.4% | 1 | 8 |
| 12 | Well Completions | 8 | 10.1% | 1 | 7 |
| 13 | Decline Curve Analysis | 8 | 10.1% | 3 | 5 |
| 14 | Reservoir Simulation | 7 | 8.9% | 1 | 6 |
| 15 | Production Optimization | 6 | 7.6% | 0 | 6 |
| 16 | SCADA | 6 | 7.6% | 4 | 2 |
| 17 | PLC Programming | 5 | 6.3% | 4 | 1 |
| 18 | Automation | 5 | 6.3% | 1 | 4 |
| 19 | Artificial Lift | 5 | 6.3% | 3 | 2 |
| 20 | Directional Drilling | 4 | 5.1% | 1 | 3 |
What stands out
Python ties with drilling engineering for the top spot. One in four entry-level O&G postings now mentions Python -- either as required (5 postings) or preferred (14). This is not a data-science-only phenomenon. Python shows up in reservoir engineering postings (Coterra, Devon, ExxonMobil), sustainability analyst roles (Coterra), GIS positions (Permian Resources), and even general engineering internships (Chevron, EOG).
Communication skills are overwhelmingly required, not preferred. Of the 18 postings that mention communication skills, 17 list them as required. This is the only skill where the required-to-preferred ratio is that skewed. Service companies in particular -- SLB, Baker Hughes, Halliburton -- list communication as the primary required skill for field engineer roles. The message is clear: you can learn drilling fluids on the job, but you need to show up knowing how to write a clear email and brief a team.
SQL is more "required" than "preferred." Seven of the 10 postings that mention SQL list it as required, not nice-to-have. This signals that data roles in O&G have matured past the "we'd love it if you knew SQL" phase into "you cannot do this job without it."
The traditional PE trifecta holds. Drilling engineering (24.1%), production engineering (22.8%), and reservoir engineering (21.5%) remain the three most-requested domain skills. If you have a PE degree, these are your bread and butter. But the gap between these and Python/data analysis is shrinking fast.
2. Rising Skills: What Is Trending Up
Since this is the first issue, we cannot show week-over-week trends. But we can identify skills that are appearing in role types where they would not have appeared three years ago. These are the signals of structural change in what the industry expects from entry-level hires.
Data analysis (21.5% of postings)
Data analysis appears in 17 of 79 postings. What is notable is where it appears: not just in dedicated data analyst roles, but in reservoir engineering tech positions (Coterra), production engineering tech roles (Permian Resources), sustainability analyst postings (Coterra), and GIS positions. The skill is migrating from IT departments into core engineering workflows.
SQL (12.7%)
SQL in 10 postings may not sound like a lot, but consider that five years ago, zero entry-level PE postings asked for SQL. Now it is required for data analyst roles, IT internships, business analyst positions, and even reservoir engineering tech jobs. Coterra's Reservoir Engineering Tech listing asks for SQL as a preferred skill. That is an E&P operator -- not a tech company -- saying they want their junior reservoir team members to query databases.
Emissions monitoring (5.1%)
Four postings explicitly mention emissions monitoring: two at Permian Resources (Emission Prevention Maintenance Technician), one sustainability analyst at Coterra, and one air quality analyst at Permian Resources. ESG compliance is creating a new job category that barely existed at the entry level two years ago.
SCADA and PLC programming (7.6% and 6.3%)
Automation roles are growing. Six postings mention SCADA, five mention PLC programming. These span dedicated SCADA technician roles, automation engineer positions, and I&C engineer postings. The Permian Basin is automating well sites at scale, and it needs people who can program PLCs and configure SCADA systems -- not just monitor them.
Databricks, Spark, dbt
These appear in only 2-3 postings each, but the fact that they appear at all in O&G entry-level job postings is the signal. PO&G Resources (Houston) explicitly requires Databricks and Alteryx. The entry-level data engineer role asks for Spark and dbt. Modern data stack tools are entering the O&G hiring vocabulary.
3. Declining Skills
Honest assessment: nothing is measurably declining in this first dataset. We will track this over time.
What we can say is that certain skills are conspicuous by their low representation relative to how heavily they are taught in PE programs:
- •MATLAB: appears in only 2 postings (2.5%). PE programs still teach MATLAB extensively. Operators have largely moved to Python.
- •VBA: appears in 0 postings explicitly. Excel shows up in 14, but VBA macros -- once a staple of PE workflows -- are not being asked for.
- •R: zero mentions across all 79 postings. The data science community may debate Python vs. R, but O&G has picked a side.
We will revisit this section each week as we accumulate comparative data.
4. Skills by Role Type
We classified all 79 postings into role categories based on title, description, and listed skills.
Drilling/Wells Engineering (23 postings, 29% of total)
The largest single category. Dominated by service company field engineer programs (Baker Hughes LEAD, SLB Early Careers, Halliburton) and operator wells engineering roles (Chevron Horizons, BP Wells Intern).
Top skills:
- •Drilling engineering: 19 postings (83%)
- •Well completions: 8 (35%)
- •Production engineering: 8 (35%)
- •Communication skills: 7 (30%)
- •Mechanical design: 7 (30%)
- •Directional drilling: 4 (17%)
- •Well planning: 4 (17%)
The drilling/wells category is the most traditional. Python appears in only 2 of these 23 postings. Service companies are hiring for field aptitude, mechanical intuition, and the ability to work rotating shifts -- not coding skills.
Production Engineering (14 postings, 18%)
Heavy in the Permian Basin and DJ Basin. Dominated by EOG Resources (2 full-time + 2 intern postings), Coterra, Permian Resources, and Devon.
Top skills:
- •Production engineering: 10 (71%)
- •Production optimization: 5 (36%)
- •Reservoir engineering: 4 (29%)
- •Artificial lift: 4 (29%)
- •ESP: 3 (21%)
- •Python: 3 (21%)
- •Excel: 3 (21%)
Production engineering is where artificial lift knowledge makes or breaks candidates. EOG's postings explicitly list plunger lift, gas lift, ESP, rod pump, and nodal analysis. If you are targeting production roles in the Permian, you need to understand lift systems -- not just in theory, but operationally.
Data/Technology (8 postings, 10%)
The fastest-growing category, even if still small in absolute numbers. Includes data analyst (PO&G Resources), data scientist, data engineer, business analyst (Permian Resources), IT intern (Diamondback), GIS tech (Permian Resources), and application development intern (Hilcorp).
Top skills:
- •Python: 8 (100%)
- •SQL: 8 (100%)
- •Data analysis: 5 (63%)
- •Data engineering: 4 (50%)
- •Power BI: 3 (38%)
- •Databricks: 3 (38%)
Every single data/tech posting requires Python and SQL. No exceptions. If you want a data role in O&G, these are non-negotiable table stakes. Power BI and Databricks are the most common platform-specific tools.
Reservoir Engineering (7 postings, 9%)
Concentrated at operators: Coterra, Devon, Hilcorp, plus generic postings in Midland and Denver.
Top skills:
- •Reservoir engineering: 7 (100%)
- •Decline curve analysis: 7 (100%)
- •Reservoir simulation: 5 (71%)
- •Reserve estimation: 3 (43%)
- •Python: 2 (29%)
- •Petroleum economics: 2 (29%)
Reservoir roles are the most technically specific. Decline curve analysis appears in every single reservoir posting. Reservoir simulation is close behind at 71%. These are roles where your PE coursework maps directly to job requirements -- but Python is creeping in. Devon's reservoir engineer posting lists Python as preferred alongside reservoir simulation and reserve estimation.
Automation/SCADA (5 postings, 6%)
A small but growing niche: SCADA technicians, automation engineers, I&C engineers, SCADA engineers.
Top skills:
- •SCADA: 5 (100%)
- •PLC programming: 5 (100%)
- •HMI design: 3 (60%)
- •Instrument calibration: 3 (60%)
- •Automation: 3 (60%)
This is the most technically specialized category. Every posting requires both SCADA and PLC programming. If you are an electrical or automation engineering graduate, this is a high-demand niche with relatively little competition from PE graduates.
ESG/HSE (5 postings, 6%)
Emissions monitoring roles at Permian Resources, the sustainability analyst at Coterra, and the HSE internship at Permian Resources.
Top skills:
- •Emissions monitoring: 4 (80%)
- •Regulatory compliance: 3 (60%)
- •HSE: 3 (60%)
- •ESG reporting: 2 (40%)
- •Data analysis: 2 (40%)
The new category that did not exist at entry level five years ago. Driven entirely by regulatory pressure and ESG reporting requirements. Notice that data analysis appears here too -- ESG is becoming a data-intensive function.
5. Skills by Location
Texas accounts for 86% of postings (68 of 79). But the skills mix varies meaningfully between Houston, Midland, and Denver.
Houston (36 postings, 46%)
The white-collar hub. Heaviest on Python (33%), data analysis (31%), and reservoir engineering (19%). Houston postings skew toward corporate engineering roles, graduate programs, internships at majors, and data/technology positions. If you want a data role in O&G, Houston is where they are.
| Skill | % of Houston postings |
|---|---|
| Python | 33.3% |
| Data Analysis | 30.6% |
| Drilling Engineering | 22.2% |
| Reservoir Engineering | 19.4% |
| Excel | 19.4% |
| SQL | 13.9% |
Midland (24 postings, 30%)
The operational hub. Heaviest on mechanical design (29%), production engineering (25%), and production optimization (21%). Midland postings skew toward field roles, production operations, lease operators, and automation technicians. Notably, SQL (21%) is higher than in Houston -- driven by Permian Resources' multiple data-adjacent roles based in Midland.
| Skill | % of Midland postings |
|---|---|
| Mechanical Design | 29.2% |
| Production Engineering | 25.0% |
| Communication Skills | 25.0% |
| Data Analysis | 25.0% |
| Production Optimization | 20.8% |
| SQL | 20.8% |
| HSE | 20.8% |
| Excel | 20.8% |
Denver (5 postings, 6%)
Small sample size but instructive. Denver postings are heavily PE-focused: production engineering (80%), drilling engineering (60%), reservoir engineering (60%). All five are at E&P operators (EOG and SM Energy). Denver is a traditional PE engineering hub with less data/tech crossover than Houston.
| Skill | % of Denver postings |
|---|---|
| Production Engineering | 80.0% |
| Drilling Engineering | 60.0% |
| Reservoir Engineering | 60.0% |
| Well Completions | 40.0% |
| Python | 40.0% |
The takeaway
Houston is where you go if your resume leads with Python and SQL. Midland is where you go if it leads with production optimization and artificial lift. Denver is where you go if you are a traditional PE graduate with strong fundamentals. All three want you to know Excel.
6. Salary by Skill
Only 22 of 79 postings include salary information -- a persistent industry problem. With that caveat, here is what the data shows. Average salary is the midpoint of the posted range, averaged across all postings that mention the skill.
| Skill | Avg Salary (midpoint) | # Postings with salary |
|---|---|---|
| Well Planning | $113,000 | 2 |
| SQL | $110,240 | 2 |
| Data Engineering | $110,240 | 2 |
| Directional Drilling | $107,177 | 3 |
| Python | $90,580 | 6 |
| Mechanical Design | $87,245 | 6 |
| Drilling Engineering | $81,933 | 12 |
| Data Analysis | $80,570 | 5 |
| SCADA | $79,831 | 3 |
| PLC Programming | $79,831 | 3 |
| Excel | $72,333 | 3 |
| Production Engineering | $63,870 | 4 |
What this means
Data skills correlate with higher posted salaries. SQL and data engineering postings average $110K+ at the midpoint. Python postings average $90K+. This is partly because the data science/energy postings that disclose salary (like the "Data Scientist -- Energy" role at $119K-$245K) pull the average up. But even excluding that outlier, Python-associated roles pay above the median.
Directional drilling is the highest-paid field specialization at entry level. At $107K average, entry-level DD field engineers outpace most other field roles. The catch: the job is physically demanding, remote, and involves extended time away from home.
The salary gap between Chevron/ExxonMobil operator roles ($118K-$138K) and service company field roles ($46K-$95K) is enormous. A Chevron entry-level PE makes more than twice what a Halliburton field associate earns. Same industry, vastly different compensation -- driven by role type, company size, and the operator/service company divide.
For a personalized salary estimate based on your specific skill set, try the skill matcher at jobs.petropt.com.
7. The Gap: Skills the Industry Wants That PE Programs Rarely Teach
Cross-referencing this week's job posting data with typical PE curricula reveals persistent gaps. These are skills that appear frequently in postings but are absent from most accredited PE programs in the US.
Python (24.1% of postings, ~0% of required PE coursework)
Some programs offer an elective. A few have introduced a programming course. But no ABET-accredited PE program in the US requires Python proficiency for graduation. Meanwhile, nearly one in four entry-level postings asks for it.
SQL (12.7% of postings, 0% of PE coursework)
PE students learn to use Excel, run Petrel, and maybe write MATLAB scripts. They do not learn to query databases. But operators increasingly store production data in SQL databases, not spreadsheets. This gap is widening.
Data analysis / data visualization (21.5% and 3.8%)
PE programs teach reservoir simulation output analysis but not general data analysis workflows -- cleaning messy datasets, building dashboards, creating automated reports. These are the day-to-day tasks that entry-level engineers spend 30-50% of their time on.
SCADA / PLC programming (7.6% and 6.3%)
Entirely absent from PE curricula. Automation is taught in EE programs, not PE programs. Yet operators are building automation teams from scratch and would love to hire PE graduates who understand both the subsurface and the surface automation layer.
ESG reporting / emissions monitoring (5.1%)
A brand-new category with no PE curricular equivalent. Environmental engineering programs cover some of this, but the intersection of emissions monitoring, regulatory compliance, and oilfield operations is a gap that no single degree program addresses well.
For a deeper analysis of the PE skills gap, see our full report: The Petroleum Engineering Skills Gap: What Universities Aren't Teaching.
8. Action Items: What to Prioritize This Week
Based on the data above, here is what we recommend depending on where you are in your job search.
If you are a PE student graduating in 2026
- 1.Learn Python. Not tomorrow. Now. Start with pandas for data manipulation and matplotlib for plotting. You do not need to become a software engineer. You need to be able to load a CSV of production data, clean it, plot decline curves, and run a basic regression. Our Python guide for PE data walks through the exact workflow.
- 2.Learn basic SQL. Take a free online course (Mode Analytics, SQLBolt, or Khan Academy). Practice writing SELECT, JOIN, WHERE, and GROUP BY queries. This is a 20-hour investment that will set you apart from 90% of PE graduates.
- 3.Pick a discipline and go deep. The generalist PE degree gets you in the door. But postings for production engineers want artificial lift knowledge. Reservoir postings want DCA and simulation. Drilling postings want well planning and directional drilling. Pick your lane and demonstrate depth.
- 4.Do not neglect communication skills. It is the most frequently required skill in the dataset. 17 of 79 postings list it as required -- more than any technical skill. Your cover letter, your interview answers, your ability to explain a technical concept to a non-technical audience -- these matter more than your GPA.
If you are a career changer or data professional
- 1.SQL + Python is the minimum. Every single data/tech posting requires both. No exceptions.
- 2.Learn one O&G domain. You do not need a PE degree. But you need to understand what a decline curve is, what artificial lift does, or what SCADA systems monitor. One domain is enough to differentiate you from a generic data analyst.
- 3.Target Houston. 100% of data/tech O&G roles in our dataset are in Houston. Midland has some data-adjacent roles (Permian Resources business analyst, production engineering tech), but the pure data roles are in Houston.
- 4.Learn Power BI or Spotfire. These are the visualization tools O&G uses. Tableau is fine on a resume, but Power BI is what most operators have deployed.
If you are looking at automation/SCADA roles
- 1.PLC programming is non-negotiable. All five automation/SCADA postings require it.
- 2.Get hands-on with Ignition or Wonderware. These are the HMI/SCADA platforms operators use. Ignition by Inductive Automation has a free trial. Build something.
- 3.Target the Permian Basin. Midland and surrounding areas have the highest density of automation roles. Operators are automating thousands of well sites and need technicians and engineers who can configure and maintain these systems.
For the full guide on breaking into the industry, see: Breaking Into Oil & Gas in 2026: An Honest Guide.
9. Check Your Skills Against the Market
We built jobs.petropt.com to answer the question every job seeker asks: "Do I have the skills employers want?"
Upload your resume, and the AI matcher will:
- •Extract your skills and map them to our taxonomy of 160+ O&G skills
- •Show you which of this week's top-demanded skills you already have
- •Identify the gaps between your profile and active postings
- •Rank the jobs where you are the strongest match
It is free. No login wall. No upsell.
The data in this article changes every week. Your skill profile does not have to be static either. Check where you stand at jobs.petropt.com.
Methodology
- •Data source: 79 active entry-level/early-career job postings collected from company career pages, LinkedIn, Indeed, Glassdoor, ZipRecruiter, and Rigzone between January 29 and March 10, 2026.
- •Skill taxonomy: jobs.petropt.com skill taxonomy -- 163 skills across 8 categories (reservoir, production, drilling, completions, software, data science, general engineering, certifications).
- •Counting method: Each skill is counted once per posting, regardless of whether it appears in the title, required skills, or preferred skills. A skill appearing as both required and preferred in the same posting is counted once.
- •Salary data: Midpoint of posted min-max range. Only 22 of 79 postings include salary data. Salary figures should be interpreted with caution given the small sample size.
- •Role classification: Based on job title, description, and listed skills. Some postings span multiple categories; each posting is classified into one primary category.
Next Week
In next week's report, we will:
- •Add newly posted jobs from the week of March 15-22
- •Track skill frequency changes week-over-week
- •Report on any new companies entering the entry-level hiring pool
- •Introduce a "Skill of the Week" deep dive
If there is a specific skill, role type, or company you want us to analyze, email info@petropt.com.
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