Drilling and Production Superintendent
On an oil and gas operation, the Drilling and Production Superintendent runs field operations — drilling progress, production rates, equipment uptime, safety, and the coordination across rigs, wellsites, and processing facilities that turns subsurface plans into measurable barrels and cubic feet.
What it's like to be a Drilling and Production Superintendent
A typical week tends to involve morning drilling and production reviews, on-site visits to rigs and well pads, coordination with reservoir and production engineering, contractor management, and the steady safety and environmental compliance work every operation owes. Operations run 24/7, and on-call exposure is the baseline.
Coordination spans rig crews, contractors, engineering, HSE, regulators, and corporate operations leadership. The hardest part is often balancing pace and cost against safety and reliability — pushing for spud-to-rig-release improvements while also catching the small signals that prevent incidents. A serious safety event can define a career.
People who tend to thrive here are operationally relentless, technically credible with field crews, and comfortable making cost-vs-safety calls under pressure. If you prefer planned, predictable work or dislike remote field exposure, the role can grind. If you find satisfaction in a field that hits production targets safely and a crew that trusts how you operate, the role can be both demanding and rewarding.
Is Drilling and Production Superintendent right for you?
An honest look at who tends to thrive in this role — and who might find it challenging.
Where this role sits in the broader career landscape — and where it can take you.
Roles like this one sit within a broader occupational category. The numbers below reflect that full landscape — helpful for context, but your specific experience will depend on level, specialty, and where you work.
How this category is changing
Skills & Requirements
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