Source: Fort Worth Star-Telegram | Jordan Blum | December 23, 2016

The oil patch will have fewer jobs in the not-so-distant future as drilling rigs become increasingly automated, with companies putting the latest advances in drilling technology into the field next year.

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These new rigs, using sophisticated software and robotics, could reduce the number of people working in the oil patch by up to 40 percent over the next few years, energy analysts said, while requiring more people in information technology to remotely monitor operations and troubleshoot problems. As with manufacturing and other industries that have become increasingly automated, the advances mean that oil and gas companies will likely need more brains, less brawn, and fewer workers overall.

It also means that many of the more than 215,000 U.S. jobs lost in the two-year oil bust — including about 100,000 in Texas — may never return as the industry recovery gains strength.

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