Engineering technicians
Refinery operator
Key facts
This job is declining in the United States. AI exposure: very low according to the ILO, low according to the BLS. Employment change in the United States by 2035: −1.3% (BLS). Future-proof jobs use similar skills: see "What next?".
The job
Petroleum and natural gas refining plant operators (ISCO 3134). Petroleum and natural gas refining plant operators operate and monitor plants and adjust and maintain processing units and equipment which refine, distil and treat petroleum, petroleum-based products and by-products, or natural gas.
Page built from official classifications (ILO, ESCO); figures cover all the jobs grouped here.
43 job titles linked to this page
Titles from the European ESCO classification. They are also used for search.
- control panel monitor
- control room technician
- gas distribution network operator
- gas distribution operator
- gas distribution pipeline operator
- gas distribution plant maintenance operator
- gas distribution plant operator
- gas distribution system operative
- gas distribution system operator
- gas distribution system worker
- gas process operator
- gas processing control room manager
- gas processing control room supervisor
- gas processing control room technician
- gas processing plant control room operator
- gas processing plant operator
- gas transmission system operative
- head of oil refinery
- monitoring and control technician
- monitoring panel operator
- natural gas transmission system operative
- oil refinery control room operator
- oil refinery control room operators
- operations supervisor
- panel board operator
- panel controller
- petroleum process operator
- petroleum pump system operator
- plant and equipment manager (refinery)
- plant monitoring operator
- process control operator
- process control room operator
- process operator
- process plant operator
- refinery coordinator
- refinery manager
- refinery process operator
- refinery process technician
- refinery shift manager
- refinery shift supervisor
- shift manager
- shift supervisor
- supervisor
What next?
Future-proof jobs that draw on skills close to this one. They are leads to explore, not an assessment of your profile.
- ChangingPower plant operator
- ChangingHealth and safety technician
Indicative matches: at launch they will come from the skills listed in official occupational directories.
Gauges
No US indicator measures hiring difficulty job by job: this gauge stays empty. How countries are compared
Sources
- AI exposure categories and employment projections, 2025-2035 (XLSX file)Bureau of Labor Statistics, United States · August 2026 · official statistics
- Generative AI and Jobs: a refined global index of occupational exposureInternational Labour Organization and NASK · May 2025 · large survey
- ESCO, European classification of skills, competences, qualifications and occupations (job titles and O*NET crosswalk)European Commission · version 1.2 · official statistics
- Jobs in 2030: projections by occupational family (summary table)Dares and France Stratégie · March 2022 · official statistics
- Labour needs survey (BMO) 2026France Travail · 2026 · large survey
- EURES report on labour shortages and surpluses 2025, annexEuropean Labour Authority · June 2026 · official statistics
Checked on 27 October 2026.