A professional who investigates and collects information concerning oil well drilling operations, geological and geophysical prospecting, and land and lease contracts from other oil fields, the press, lease brokers, individuals, and organizations leading to possible discovery of new oil fields. Responsibilities include:

• Interviews individuals and observes field operations to obtain data, such as locations and depths of oil or gas wells or exploratory boreholes or of producing wells, subsurface and geophysical survey results, methods of well completion, and volume of oil or gas flow.
• Collects rock samples and cuttings and samples of oil or gas from wells.
• Inspects cores and notes recurrence of specific strata in various boreholes to confirm or disprove concepts of stratigraphy.
• Obtains information on purpose and locations of lease purchases, royalty contracts, and other agreements made by competitive companies.
• Observations may be confined to prospecting or to include drilling and producing activities.
• Must have knowledge of production engineering, oil field practices, and geology.
• May sketch subsurface contours of geological formations as indicated by data obtained.
• May negotiate with landowners for drilling leases, ore royalties, and land options (lease buyer)