Oil & Gas companies are investing $100M+ in AI - 5 Ways you can get hired

Oil and gas companies are putting serious money into artificial intelligence.

One recent example: TotalEnergies and Mistral announced a three-year AI program worth more than €100 million to develop AI models for oil and gas reservoir exploration, characterization and engineering. The project will combine AI with nearly 10 petaflops of data and almost a century of TotalEnergies' geoscience and reservoir-engineering expertise.

So what does all of this mean for someone trying to build a career in oil and gas?

Here are 5 ways to make yourself more hireable as AI becomes a bigger part of oil and gas. 1. Combine Oil & Gas Knowledge With AI

A drilling engineer who understands AI applications in drilling can be more useful than someone who understands AI but knows nothing about drilling.

The same applies to:

• Reservoir engineering + AI

• Geology + machine learning

• Production engineering + data analytics

• Process engineering + automation

• Well operations + digital technology

The opportunity is increasingly at the intersection of industry expertise and technology.

2. Learn to Work With Data

You don't have to become a data scientist.

But you should become comfortable working with data.

Start with practical tools and skills such as:

• Advanced Excel

• Power BI

• Data visualization

• Basic statistics

• SQL

• Python

The goal is to be able to take operational data, identify patterns and turn those patterns into useful information.

That is becoming increasingly important as companies collect larger amounts of data from wells, facilities, equipment and subsurface operations.

3. Understand how AI is used in your job

Don't just put “AI” on your CV.

Understand how it can actually be used in your discipline.

For example:

• Drilling: Predictive analytics, drilling optimization and real-time monitoring.

• Reservoir engineering: Reservoir characterization, simulation and production forecasting.

• Geoscience: Seismic interpretation and subsurface analysis.

• Maintenance: Predictive maintenance and equipment monitoring.

• Operations: Automation, optimization and anomaly detection.

TotalEnergies' new partnership with Mistral is a good example. The AI models are being developed specifically to help geoscience experts process complex subsurface data and generate scenarios for exploration and reservoir development.

4. Build portfolio

Employers want to know what you can actually do.

If you're learning AI or data analytics, create something you can show.

For example:

• Build a drilling-data dashboard.

• Analyze historical production data.

• Create a simple predictive-maintenance model.

• Use Python to analyze well data.

• Build an AI-assisted technical reporting workflow.

You don't need a huge project.

A small project that demonstrates how you use technology to solve an oil and gas problem can be more useful than simply listing another course on your CV.

5. Build recognized Oil & Gas certifications

AI and digital skills can help you stand out, but technical certifications still matter when you're building a career in oil and gas.

Employers need people who understand the industry, its operations and its safety requirements not just people who know how to use AI tools.

Depending on your career path, relevant certifications in areas such as drilling, well control, well servicing, RigPass and safety can strengthen your professional profile and demonstrate that you have the technical knowledge required to work in the industry.

For example, certifications such as IADC WellSharp, IWCF Drilling Well Control and IADC RigPass can complement your technical experience while you build additional digital and AI skills.

The strongest combination is:

Industry knowledge + recognized certification + digital skills.

Don't replace your oil & gas expertise with AI.

Add AI to it.

Ready to build your Oil & Gas career?

Whether you're starting your career, looking to move into a new role or upgrading your existing skills, LearnToDrill offers 50+ online oil & gas training courses that you can complete at your own pace.

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