Drilling engineers develop and supervise the drilling of gas and oil wells. They assist in the designing, testing and creation of wells and are employed on land or offshore platforms. Drilling engineers work with other mining professionals and oversee the drilling progress and safety of the site.

Tasks

Tasks include -
(a) Determining the location and planning the extraction of coal, metallic ores, non-metallic minerals, and building materials, such as stone and gravel;
(b) Determining most suitable methods of efficient mining and extraction and types of machinery to be used, planning layout and directing construction of shafts and tunnels;
(c) Determining drilling site and devising methods of controlling the flow of water, oil or gas from wells;
(d) Planning and directing storage, initial treatment and transportation of water, oil or gas;
(e) Establishing safety standards and procedures and first-aid facilities, especially underground;
(f) Conducting research, developing methods of extracting metals from their ores and advising on their application;
(g) Investigating properties of metals and alloys, developing new alloys and advising on and supervising technical aspects of metal and alloy manufacture and processing;
(h) Maintaining technical liaison and consultancy with other relevant specialists such as geologists and geophysicists;
(i) Examining deposits or mines to evaluate profitability.