How To Become A Crude Unit Operator: What It Is and Career Path

What is a crude unit operator and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a crude unit operator. For example, did you know that they make an average of $25.36 an hour? That's $52,747 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow -15% and produce -6,500 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreCrude Unit OperatorUS Average

Salary

4.1

Avg. Salary $52,747

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

8.3

Growth rate -15%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

3.4

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.78%

Asian 4.12%

Black or African American 7.06%

Hispanic or Latino 14.31%

Unknown 4.71%

White 69.02%

Gender

female 0.00%

male 100.00%

Age - 47

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 47

Stress level

8.3

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.2

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

5.1

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a crude unit operator

Explore crude unit operator education requirements

Most common crude unit operator degrees

Bachelor's

41.7 %

Associate

33.3 %

High School Diploma

16.7 %

Start to develop specific crude unit operator skills

Skills	Percentages
Distillation	100.00%

Complete relevant crude unit operator training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 3-6 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New crude unit operators learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a crude unit operator based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real crude unit operator resumes.

Research crude unit operator duties and responsibilities

Perform DCS operator activities and seek for opportunities to suggest process improvements.
Monitor temperatures, pressures, levels, gauges, controllers, transmitters, and flows for unit operation

Prepare your crude unit operator resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your crude unit operator resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a crude unit operator resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable crude unit operator resume templates

Build a professional crude unit operator resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your crude unit operator resume.