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The Global Insight

How much do drilling contractors make?

Author

Michael Gray

Updated on March 28, 2026

The salaries of Drilling Contractors in the US range from $39,000 to $101,040 , with a median salary of $65,319 . The middle 50% of Drilling Contractors makes between $58,969 and $65,301, with the top 83% making $101,040.

What are drilling contracts?

The drilling contract is one of the most important contracts for an operator. A drilling contract will allocate certain risks on a reciprocal basis (including personal injury, damage to property, certain pollution risks and consequential damages), regardless of fault.

What is a drilling engineer contractor?

Drilling engineers design and implement procedures to drill wells as safely and economically as possible. They work closely with the drilling contractor, service contractors, and compliance personnel, as well as with geologists and other technical specialists.

What are the duties of a drilling engineer?

A drilling engineer is responsible for planning and executing operations that drill for gas and oil. They are involved in the entire drilling life cycle, from initial well design to testing to supervising a drilling crew.

What is a turnkey drilling contract?

The turnkey concept is easily defined. Simply stated the turnkey concept requires the drilling contractor to drill a loggable hole to a predetermined depth at a fixed lump sum cost. In drilling a well on a daywork basis, the drilling contractor is only responsible for providing an operational drilling unit.

How long are oil rig contracts?

How long are the contracts? Normally, from 6 to 12 months, depending on the company and the specific project. The different sort of contracts can be extended by mutual agreement.

How much do drilling engineers get paid?

Average Salary for a Drilling Engineer Drilling Engineers in America make an average salary of $110,085 per year or $53 per hour. The top 10 percent makes over $165,000 per year, while the bottom 10 percent under $73,000 per year.

What qualifications do you need to be a drilling engineer?

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Drilling Engineers must be licensed by the state they work in. This requires an accredited bachelor’s degree in the field, several years of experience and passing the Fundamentals of Engineering and Professional Engineering exams.

Who are the drilling operators, contractors and service companies?

We also go into a bit more detail for O+G workers who will already have some understanding. Who are the drilling operators? A drilling operator is an oil company that has successfully tendered for, and owns the mineral rights, leases and permits to explore in a particular area.

How does a drilling contractor handle an oil spill?

Drilling contractor will handle any spills that are contained on the installation using the project-specific Oil Spill Contingency Plan (OSCP). Operator shall handle the onshore response to an environmental emergency not contained on the rig, with drilling contractor providing support if requested by the operator’s emergency response team.

What does a service company do on a drilling rig?

A service company fills in the supply gaps for the contractors and operators. These can include many different physical products, as well as services such as logistics, supply chain, software and training. These service companies get called out to the rig site to perform specific duties as agreed by the operator.

How many companies are involved in a drilling project?

There might be 10-30 different companies involved in a project, but the operator is there at the beginning, and the end, from planning to decommissioning. They also sell or supply the oil and gas to the market. What’s a drilling contractor?