Torchora
Back to Home

Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Oil & Gas Specialist

💰 $ - $

EnergyOil & GasEngineeringOperationsHSE

🎯 Role Definition

An Oil & Gas Specialist is a technically competent, commercially aware professional responsible for optimizing hydrocarbon recovery, ensuring safe and compliant operations, and delivering asset value across upstream and midstream activities. This role blends reservoir and production engineering, drilling and completions insight, operations management, HSE leadership, and commercial acumen to plan, execute and monitor drilling, completion, production, and decommissioning activities. The Oil & Gas Specialist works cross-functionally with subsurface teams, field operations, procurement and commercial teams to deliver safe, efficient and profitable asset performance.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • Production Engineer / Field Engineer with 1–4 years of operational experience.
  • Reservoir Engineer or Petrophysicist transitioning from subsurface analytics to field delivery.
  • Drilling or Completions Engineer coming from rig or service company roles.
  • Operations Coordinator or HSE Advisor with exposure to wells and asset operations.

Advancement To:

  • Senior Oil & Gas Specialist / Lead Production Engineer
  • Asset Manager or Operations Manager (onshore/offshore)
  • Technical Authority / Discipline Lead (Reservoir, Production, Drilling)
  • Project Manager or Project Director for major field developments

Lateral Moves:

  • HSE Advisor or Compliance Manager
  • Commercial Analyst or Contracts Manager (tendering and vendor management)
  • Digitalization Lead / Data Science for Oil & Gas

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Lead the development and execution of production optimization plans, including nodal analysis, artificial lift selection and tuning, well testing, and choke/flow management to maximize hydrocarbon recovery while minimizing operating costs.
  • Perform reservoir and production data analysis (decline curve, material balance, PVT interpretation) and translate subsurface findings into actionable well and facility interventions.
  • Design, review and supervise drilling programs, well plans and well control procedures; ensure technical integrity of drilling operations and alignment with cost and schedule targets.
  • Plan and coordinate well completions, stimulation treatments and workovers, liaising with service providers to design stimulation, cementing and completion sequences that meet formation and production objectives.
  • Prepare and maintain well integrity and corrosion management plans, including monitoring regimes, chemical treatment programs and integrity remediation activities.
  • Lead risk assessments (HAZID, HAZOP, LOPA) and ensure mitigation measures are embedded into well operations, well intervention campaigns and facilities modifications.
  • Manage HSE compliance for drilling, completions and production activities, ensure regulatory reporting, permit acquisition, and adherence to international and local safety standards.
  • Monitor field operations and production KPIs (production rate, uptime, downtime, water cut, gas lift injection rates); produce weekly and monthly performance reports and dashboard summaries for stakeholders.
  • Conduct economic evaluations including reserves estimation, cashflow modelling, NPV/IRR analysis, and sensitivity studies to support investment decisions, field developments and divestment strategies.
  • Oversee vendor and service provider selection, contract negotiation and performance management to control costs and ensure delivery of technical scope (rigs, completion services, testing, logistics).
  • Coordinate multi-disciplinary teams across operations, subsurface, facilities and projects to ensure integrated delivery of production targets and capital projects.
  • Plan and manage well testing campaigns, production logging, formation evaluation runs, and wireline/slickline operations to acquire data for reservoir characterization and production optimization.
  • Support commissioning, start-up and ramp-up of production facilities and tie-ins, ensuring operational readiness and regulatory compliance for new wells and infrastructure.
  • Implement and manage digital oilfield technologies (SCADA, OSIsoft PI, real-time monitoring), use production surveillance tools and analytics (Python, SQL, dashboards) to drive data-driven decision making.
  • Prepare, review and present technical reports, well dossiers, regulatory submissions and board-level summaries that clearly communicate risks, opportunities and recommended actions.
  • Lead or support abandonment and decommissioning planning, cost estimates, plug and abandonment (P&A) programs and regulatory close-out activities.
  • Develop and maintain well and asset documentation (well records, procedures, SOPs, asset registers) to ensure institutional knowledge and compliance with audit requirements.
  • Drive continuous improvement activities including root cause analysis of production losses, reliability improvement plans, and lessons learned capture to improve operational efficiency.
  • Evaluate new technologies, stimulation techniques and enhanced oil recovery (EOR) options; run pilot programs and scale up successful trials across assets.
  • Support tender preparation, bid evaluations and technical clarifications for field development projects, ensuring technical compliance and cost-effective proposals.
  • Coordinate logistics and mobilization plans for rigs, intervention vessels and specialized equipment including route planning, customs, and third-party coordination for onshore/offshore operations.
  • Manage budgets for operations and small capital projects, track spend vs forecast and implement cost control measures to meet financial objectives.
  • Mentor, coach and develop junior engineers and field staff; lead competence assessments and ensure training plans address technical and safety gaps.
  • Maintain stakeholder engagement across government/regulatory bodies, joint venture partners and community liaison groups to secure social license to operate and regulatory approvals.
  • Ensure quality control of technical deliverables and conformity with corporate governance, ISO standards and internal technical assurance frameworks.

Secondary Functions

  • Support ad-hoc data requests and exploratory data analysis.
  • Contribute to the organization's data strategy and roadmap.
  • Collaborate with business units to translate data needs into engineering requirements.
  • Participate in sprint planning and agile ceremonies within the data engineering team.
  • Assist in internal and external audits, providing evidence, clarifications and implementing corrective actions when required.
  • Deliver toolbox talks, technical training sessions and competency assessments for operations and maintenance personnel.
  • Support ESG reporting initiatives by contributing operational data for emissions, flaring and methane intensity calculations.
  • Participate in continuous improvement projects, pilot trials and cross-functional task forces to implement best practices across assets.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • Reservoir engineering and simulation (decline curve analysis, material balance, reserves estimation, Eclipse/CMG familiarity).
  • Production engineering (nodal analysis, artificial lift design and optimization, ESP/rod pump/gas lift experience).
  • Well design and drilling engineering fundamentals (well planning, directional drilling, casing and cementing specifications).
  • Completions and stimulation design (hydraulic fracturing basics, acidizing, perforation strategies and wellbore cleanup).
  • Well integrity, corrosion control and P&A planning (integrity management systems and remedial repair strategy).
  • Production surveillance and SCADA expertise (OSIsoft PI, real-time dashboards, alarm management).
  • Data analytics and scripting for oil & gas (Python, SQL, Excel advanced, VBA, MATLAB).
  • Well test design and interpretation, production logging and formation evaluation techniques.
  • Economic modelling and commercial evaluation (NPV, IRR, reserves risked scenarios, break-even analysis).
  • Project and contract management (tendering, vendor management, procurement cycles, performance metrics).
  • Familiarity with industry software and toolsets: Petrel, Techlog, OFM, WellView, Prosper, Landmark (or similar).
  • Regulatory compliance and local permitting processes (onshore/offshore regulatory frameworks and reporting).
  • HSE systems and risk assessment methodologies (HAZOP, HAZID, LOPA, incident investigation).
  • CMMS and maintenance planning tools for asset reliability (SAP, Maximo or equivalent).

Soft Skills

  • Strong stakeholder management and clear, persuasive communication to technical and non-technical audiences.
  • Leadership and team coordination skills to lead multi-disciplinary field campaigns and cross-functional projects.
  • Problem solving and analytical mindset with attention to detail when interpreting complex subsurface and operations data.
  • Commercial awareness and cost-conscious decision making to balance technical solutions with fiscal outcomes.
  • Decision-making under pressure with the ability to prioritize safety and operational continuity.
  • Adaptability and resilience in dynamic field environments (offshore rotations, remote operations).
  • Collaboration and interpersonal skills to work effectively with joint venture partners, contractors and regulators.
  • Time management and organizational skills to manage competing priorities, schedules and deliverables.
  • Mentoring and coaching capability to develop junior staff and transfer technical knowledge.
  • Negotiation skills for vendor contracts, service scopes and commercial agreements.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • Bachelor's degree in Petroleum Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Geoscience, or closely related technical discipline.

Preferred Education:

  • Master's degree in Petroleum Engineering, Reservoir Engineering, or MSc in a relevant engineering discipline.
  • Professional certifications such as Chartered Engineer (CEng), SPE membership, PMP or technical certificates in well control, HSE or data analytics.

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Petroleum Engineering
  • Reservoir Engineering
  • Mechanical/Chemical Engineering
  • Geoscience / Geology
  • Industrial Engineering / Offshore Technology

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range: 5–12 years of progressive experience in upstream oil & gas operations, including a combination of field operations, reservoir or production engineering, and project execution.

Preferred:

  • 8+ years with significant hands-on experience in drilling, completions, production optimization and/or reservoir management.
  • Demonstrated track record of leading multi-disciplinary campaigns, managing vendor relationships, and delivering production or project targets.
  • Experience in both onshore and offshore environments, exposure to international operations and working with joint venture structures and regulatory authorities.
Explore More Careers