Robots Are Taking Over Oil Rigs – Bloomberg 

–Automation means wells need only five workers, down from 20

…Rigs have gotten so much more efficient that the shale industry can use about half as many as it did at the height of the boom in 2014 to suck the same amount of oil out of the ground, says Angie Sedita, an analyst at UBS Corp. Nabors Industries, the world’s largest onshore driller, says it expects to cut the number of workers at each well site eventually to about five from 20 by deploying more automated drilling rigs.

…That means an engineer can design an oil well at his desk. With the press of a button, an automated system would identify the equipment needed from a supplier, create a 3D model and send instructions for building it out into the field, Hashmi says. “That is automation.”

“It used to be you had a toolbox full of wrenches and tubing benders…Now your main tool is a laptop.” — Donald McLain, who worked as a rig hand for 25 years

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