Best High-Paying Oil And Gas Jobs in Pennsylvania to 2020
Chesapeake Oil and Oil Attorneys Active in PA
Chesapeake Energy, active in the $3.25 Billion worth of oil and natural gas deals cut in Eastern and Southern Ohio for early 2012, is also active in Pennsylvania for the next decade or longer.
The company announced in late December 2011 its plans to sell $865 million of Pennsylvania oil and gas pipelines to one of its subsidiaries and this was accomplished soon afterward. This included over 200 miles of pipelines for the subsidiary Chesapeake Midstream, which was already a leading gas and oil company in America.
In addition, a group of attorneys from Texas makes the third Texas law firm to have moved into Northwestern Pennsylvania to take advantage of the growing oil boom. The legal specialty offered is serving oil and gas companies via The Sadler Law Firm. It hired another 25 or more attorneys in 2012 at the Southpointe Business Park in Washington County (see map below), which increases jobs in the legal and oil sectors.
Another top oil and gas specialty law firm already at work was Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC in Pittsburgh, which continues to perform well.
From 1748 to 2015

Oil City full of oil boats in 1864 during the American Civil War.
The History of the Standard Oil Company by Ida Tarbell; 1904. PD
Oil History in PA
Marcellus and Utica Shale deposits, named for sites in New York State, cover most of the State of Pennsylvania and at least 75% of the land from the Ohio border on the west, eastwards to Philadelphia.
Of important note are the cities of Pittsburgh, offering oil and natural gas jobs, and Oil City to the north. Oil City became a famous oil company headquarters town for several firms after the first US oil well was purportedly drilled on a Pennsylvania farm to start the US Oil Industry in 1859. This was about the time that the American Railroad became more useful, just the right time for oil transport to begin. In fact, Pennsylvania has been known as a railroading state, with famous trains and tracks at Altoona PA and the film train disaster film Unstoppable filmed on location in Pittsburgh.
Interestingly, oil was first reported before the American Revolution, by a Swedish settler around Oil City. He observed that Native Americans, namely the Seneca Nation of the long-time Iroquois Confederacy, had already been skimming oil from Oil Creek for trade with whites for some time. They continued to do so until about 1800. Among the Iroquois Six Nations that traded with and befriended whites, the Senecas most often married into white families and developed businesses in New York and Pennsylvania.
Marcellus and Utica Shale Deposits
Shale Oil Boom
Pennsylvania and Ohio are experiencing a low-cost natural gas boom in shale oil that is driving natural gas prices down, especially in Pennsylvania after 2008.
The boom is stimulating additional investments in factories that use shale gas as well. Marcellus and Utica Shale states are offering incentives to attract such shale-gas-using companies that produce chemicals, plastics, fertilizers, steel, and several additional product lines.
Examine the most frequently listed oil and gas jobs in Pennsylvania below and watch for many more before the end of 2020.
Related Attractions
- Oil Heritage Festival | Venango Area Chamber of Commerce
Annual Festival held in downtown Oil City - Drake Well Historic Site
First US oil well. - PA State Parks - Oil Creek
- Oil Creek & Titusville Railroad - OC&T RR - OilCity-Titusville PA
The Oil Creek and Titusville Railroad is a tourist ride through the valley where oil was first discovered and refined in the United States.
Historic American Oil Country: Pennsylvania
The Oil Creek River Valley in Northwestern Pennsylvania is a historic site included in the Oil Heritage Sites for Pennsylvania. On the map above, you can see Titusville, where the first oil well in America was drilled and below that, Oil City. "Oil Tourism" is a major contributor to the local economies in this area.
The Pennsylvania and National Oil Heritage Areas contain a total of over 700 square miles of land and dozens of communities. Economic development and environment protection are major goals in this combined region.
On the map to the right, we see that the combined shale deposits reach from New York into Canada, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, Virginia and a small part of Tennessee.
Oil and Gas Job Surges in Several Spikes

Increases of thousands of percent, with surge in January 2013 and January 2015.
Permission with attribution: Indeed.com searches millions of jobs from thousands of job sites.
Fastest growing companies in the Oil & Gas Industry in Pennsylvania are Oxford Solutions, Saudi Aramco, Baker Hughes, Schlumberger, Gibson Energy, Enterprise Holdings, General Electric, DNV GL, Flowserve, and URS.
2,750% Job Growth 2009 - 2012 Alone
Pennsylvania Job Surges 2011 - 2015
At the end of December 2011, approximately 3,000 oil and natural gas related jobs were open in Pennsylvania, largely at the cities marked on the map offered below. Another 300+ jobs in oil and gas pipeline engineering and related jobs were also open. January 2013 saw another surge in jobs.
By Labor Day 2014, the number of Oil & Gas jobs in the state requiring new workers stood at 6,600+ vacancies.
In mid-February 2015, advertised jobs in Oil & Gas reached a high in this state of over 262,000 openings. This is gargantuan growth.
During early August 2015, Oil & Gas jobs available dropped to 126,000 openings, but Truck Driving (over 50% of advertised these jobs pay over $40 K annually) increased steadily from 2014 to this date to include 150,000 jobs. Oil has been trucked across the USA in light of uncompleted oil pipelines in the West that would provide only a few long term jobs.
Pennsylvania Companies Hiring Most Workers in 2015 - 2016
Industry Sector | Company Names |
---|---|
TRUCKING | USA Truck, CRST Expedited, CRST Specialized Transportation, CRST Lease Purchase, CRST Malone, Swift Transportation Company, Daily Express, Hogan Transportation, Maverick Transportation, Transport America. |
HEALTHCARE | CompHealth, Genesis Healthcare, RNnetwork, Community Health Systems, Enterprise Medical Services, Supplemental Health Care, PSA Healthcare. |
SALES REPRESENTATION | United Energy Alliance, Farmer's Insurance, CRST. |
Top Jobs in Oil and Gas
- Water Truck Drivers; Heavy Haul Truck Drivers; OTR Drivers - Over the road, long haul, regional jobs.
- Maintenance Technicians
- Hazmat Drivers
- Security Officers
- Telesales Business Development Representative III - Oil and Gas sales
- Fuelers / Truck Wash / Tires
- Mechanics
- Mechanical, Field, and Pipeline Engineers
- Diesel Technician/Mechanics
- Completion Superintendents and Foremen
- Outside Sales Representatives
- Diesel Mechanic for Fleets
- Natural Gas Project Managers
- Petroleum Supply Specialists
- Valve Technicians


Location of Frequent Oil and Gas Job Listings
Oil Regulation Was Needed
Wawa has become an eminent company for the clean up of oil and gas spills according to strict standards in Pennsylvania. Pitt Ohio has become a trusted trucking company for handling related Pennsylvania HAZMAT needs. Tire companies and truck maintenance outfits are also growing.
Top Hiring Companies In Oil and Gas and Related Jobs
- Baker Hughes
- Halliburton
- Dawn Trucking
- Cenergy
- GE Energy
- Penske
- Valvoline Oil - Instant change stations crew and management
- URS Corporation
- TransTechs
- System One
- ERM
- United States Steel Corporation
- Deloitte
- Worleyparsons
- Chevron
- Schlumberger
© 2011 Patty Inglish MS
Comments
Adam K on March 19, 2012:
Great Information :)
Hello, hello, from London, UK on December 31, 2011:
As always another very professional written hub. Very interesting to read.