Oil & Gas Upstream

Drilling and field crews work hitches such as 14-on/14-off or 7-and-7 with day and night tours of 12 hours.

Oil & Gas Upstream sits inside the broader Energy sector. Drilling and field crews work hitches such as 14-on/14-off or 7-and-7 with day and night tours of 12 hours. ShiftClock catalogs 3 shift-work occupations in this category, including Drilling Rig Floorhand, Drilling Rig Derrickhand, Drilling Rig Driller. Industry-level hiring pressures and overtime trends are summarized in this Energy workforce analytics report.

Common schedule patterns used here include 14-on / 14-off Oilfield Hitch, 7-and-7 Oilfield Hitch. Each pattern carries different overtime, break, and shift-differential implications, which is why workers in the same industry can see meaningfully different pay stubs even when the base wage is similar.

Across the occupations in this directory the median hourly wage ranges from $24.80 to $34.70, with an average near $29.33 per hour. These figures are anchored to published U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics OEWS bulletins and adjusted for the shift-work context. They are starting points, not legal advice — actual pay depends on the collective bargaining agreement, state law, and the specific employer. Detailed methodology is described in this latest staffing model whitepaper.

If you work in Oil & Gas Upstream, the most useful next step is to open the occupation page that matches your title, then jump to the schedule pattern your employer uses. From there ShiftClock will surface the right calculator for your overtime situation and break policy.

Operators planning new shifts in this industry can use the schedule directory to compare staffing models side by side. Continuous-process work usually demands 12-hour rotations to limit handovers, while service-heavy operations often blend split shifts with compressed workweeks. The right choice trades off coverage, fatigue, and overtime cost — and ShiftClock makes those tradeoffs explicit through real numbers rather than rules of thumb.

Occupations tracked in this industry

Schedule patterns used here

• 14-on / 14-off Oilfield Hitch — Fourteen consecutive days of 12-hour tours followed by fourteen days off. Travel days may or may not be compensable hours of work.
• 7-and-7 Oilfield Hitch — Seven days on, seven days off, often paired with chartered transportation to remote sites.