Will AI replace Petroleum Pump System Operators, Refinery Operators, and Gaugers?

What this score means

Petroleum Pump System Operators, Refinery Operators, and Gaugers is among the least exposed roles in Manufacturing. Most of what the job involves still sits outside what current AI can do, even as the tools around it keep changing. At 22 out of 100 it scores 3 points above the Manufacturing average of 19. Across the 5 sources behind this baseline, individual estimates run from 5 to 56, so the score is a weighted consensus rather than any single figure.

The number is a consensus estimate for the typical version of the role, built from published academic and industry research scored occupation by occupation. It is not a prediction about any individual. How scoring works

What this job actually involves

Exposure follows the work itself rather than the job title, so it is worth seeing what the role is made of. These are the tasks O*NET records for Petroleum Pump System Operators, Refinery Operators, and Gaugers, most central first, showing 12 of 24.

• 01Signal other workers by telephone or radio to operate pumps, open and close valves, and check temperatures.
• 02Maintain and repair equipment, or report malfunctioning equipment to supervisors so that repairs can be scheduled.
• 03Monitor process indicators, instruments, gauges, and meters to detect and report any possible problems.
• 04Start pumps and open valves or use automated equipment to regulate the flow of oil in pipelines and into and out of tanks.
• 05Operate control panels to coordinate and regulate process variables such as temperature and pressure, and to direct product flow rate, according to process schedules.
• 06Verify that incoming and outgoing products are moving through the correct meters, and that meters are working properly.
• 07Patrol units to monitor the amount of oil in storage tanks, and to verify that activities and operations are safe, efficient, and in compliance with regulations.
• 08Plan movement of products through lines to processing, storage, and shipping units, using knowledge of system interconnections and capacities.
• 09Control or operate manifold and pumping systems to circulate liquids through a petroleum refinery.
• 10Operate auxiliary equipment and control multiple processing units during distilling or treating operations, moving controls that regulate valves, pumps, compressors, and auxiliary equipment.
• 11Collect product samples by turning bleeder valves, or by lowering containers into tanks to obtain oil samples.
• 12Read automatic gauges at specified intervals to determine the flow rate of oil into or from tanks, and the amount of oil in tanks.

Task statements from O*NET by the National Center for O*NET Development, used under CC BY 4.0. The tasks are descriptive; the exposure score above is ours.

The research behind this score

This baseline aggregates 5 research sources that scored Petroleum Pump System Operators, Refinery Operators, and Gaugers for AI and automation exposure. More recent, higher confidence studies carry more weight in the final number.

• 01Anthropic Economic Index 2026 - AI Task Exposure · 2026Anthropic
• 02Global Automation Atlas: Task Substitution Exposure by Occupation · 2026Garg, Crosta, Baier (2026), arXiv:2605.17086
• 03Working with AI: Measuring the Applicability of Generative AI to Occupations · 2025Tomlinson, Jaffe et al., Microsoft Research (2025)
• 04GPTs are GPTs: Labor Market Impact Potential of LLMs · 2024Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin, Rock (Science, 2024)
• 05AI Occupational Exposure to Language Modeling · 2023Felten, Raj, Seamans (2023)

Common questions

How likely is AI to replace Petroleum Pump System Operators, Refinery Operators, and Gaugers?

Published research puts Petroleum Pump System Operators, Refinery Operators, and Gaugers at 22 out of 100 for AI displacement risk, in the lower risk band. The number is a weighted consensus of 5 research sources and describes the typical version of the role, not any individual.

Do researchers agree on the risk for Petroleum Pump System Operators, Refinery Operators, and Gaugers?

Only partly. Individual estimates for Petroleum Pump System Operators, Refinery Operators, and Gaugers run from 5 to 56 out of 100 across the 5 sources behind this score, so the single number smooths over real disagreement. More recent and higher confidence studies carry more weight in it.

Which manufacturing roles face similar AI exposure?

The closest published manufacturing roles to Petroleum Pump System Operators, Refinery Operators, and Gaugers by score are Lathe and Turning Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic (22/100), Model Makers, Wood (22/100), and Nuclear Power Reactor Operators (22/100). Each has its own page with the research behind its number.

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More manufacturing occupations

• Food Batchmakers23/100
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• Butchers and Meat Cutters21/100
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