Energy and chemicals

How to become a petroleum engineer

Official title: Petroleum engineer

Also called: Petrophysical engineer, Gas engineer, Oil refinery engineer, Pipeline engineer, Well engineer, Drilling engineer, Mud engineer

Petroleum engineers design, develop and oversee drilling operations used to extract underground oil and gas reserves. They also locate underground reserves and develop sustainable extraction methods.

Main tasks

Design drilling operations
Oversee oil and gas extraction
Monitor drilling output
Test how drilling equipment performs
Fix problems affecting drilling
Supervise staff
Analyse site data

How to become one

You need a qualification to become a petroleum engineer and experience may be useful. You need University Entrance to do the study or training for this job. Required: a Bachelor of Engineering (Honours). Other requirements: experience in similar work; to be a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers; to be registered as a Chartered Professional Engineer with Engineering New Zealand; a driver licence.

See the full Tahatū profile

Ways in

University: Engineering degrees, Offered by 5 universities in New Zealand

Pay · Past change · AI and this job

Most common pay: $78,000 to $155,000 a year (median $110,000), a TEC estimate before tax.
Lower: $54,000 a year · Upper: $261,000 a year
TEC's pay figures are estimates only. TEC says they must not be used to set pay, in pay negotiations or in visa applications.
Change in the number of people doing this job between the 2018 and 2023 Censuses: Steady (TEC). This is past change, not a forecast.
People employed in the group Mining Engineers: 339 at the 2018 Census and 426 at the 2023 Census (+25.7%). Past change, not a forecast.
Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.

Who does this work

About 220 people did this job at the 2023 Census (TEC).
In the group Mining Engineers, 16% of workers are female (sex at birth, 2023 Census).
Where people in the group Mining Engineers work (2023 Census): Auckland 31%, Waikato 13.4%, and Wellington 9.9%.

Questions people ask

How do I become a petroleum engineer?

How much does a petroleum engineer earn in New Zealand?

The Tertiary Education Commission estimates median pay at $110,000 a year, before tax. Most common pay is $78,000 to $155,000 a year.

Has the number of people working as a petroleum engineer grown in New Zealand?

It has held steady: TEC records the number of people doing this job as steady between the 2018 and 2023 Censuses. This is past change, not a forecast.

Will AI change the work of a petroleum engineer?

Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.

Sources

Tertiary Education Commission (Tahatu Career Navigator): Tahatu career ideas: descriptions, tasks, pay estimates, people employed, employment change 2018 to 2023, entry requirements, registration, interest scores (Site scrape 2026-10 (816 career ideas, sitemap lastmod 2026-10-01)), CC BY 4.0, retrieved 4 October 2026
Stats NZ (via Figure.NZ): Census totals by topic for individuals 2013, 2018, 2023 (CEN23_TBT_004): employed by occupation, ANZSCO V1.3, summed to unit group (2023 Census (CEN23_TBT_004)), CC BY 4.0 (Stats NZ), CC BY 3.0 NZ (Figure.NZ), retrieved 4 October 2026
Stats NZ (via Figure.NZ): Census 2023: employed by regional council, occupation (ANZSCO V1.3 unit group) and sex at birth (2023 Census), CC BY 4.0 (Stats NZ), CC BY 3.0 NZ (Figure.NZ), retrieved 4 October 2026
International Labour Organization, Generative AI and Jobs: A Refined Global Index of Occupational Exposure (ILO Working Paper 140, Gmyrek et al.) (ILO Working Paper 140, May 2025, Annex Table A1), CC BY 4.0, retrieved 4 October 2026

This content is sourced from the Tertiary Education Commission through the Tahatū Career Navigator website (www.tahatu.govt.nz) and used under the CC BY 4.0 licence. All or some of the information has been modified by Peernovo. TEC has not approved, endorsed or tested these modifications. TEC will not be held accountable for any errors within this content.

Qualification information from NZQA, used under CC BY 3.0 NZ.

This work is based on/includes Stats NZ's data which are licensed by Stats NZ for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence. Census data via Figure.NZ.

Includes information from O*NET OnLine by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications.

Sources: Tertiary Education Commission, Tahatū Career Navigator (career ideas, pay estimates, entry requirements and study options, CC BY 4.0, modified by Peernovo); Stats NZ, 2023 Census (via Figure.NZ) and the National Occupation List (CC BY 4.0); NZQA qualification information (CC BY 3.0 NZ); O*NET interest scores (CC BY 4.0); ILO global generative AI exposure index (CC BY 4.0). Links between career ideas and ANZSCO groups, degree fields and broad job groups are Peernovo's.

These results are not official statistics. They have been created for research purposes from the Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI), which is carefully managed by Stats NZ.

Graduate outcomes: these results are not official statistics. They have been created for research purposes from the Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI), which is carefully managed by Stats NZ.

Updated 4 October 2026