A professional who operates chemical, electrical, and centrifugal oil-treatment units to remove sediment and water from crude oil before transporting oil by pipeline to refineries. Respnsibilities include:

• Opens valves and starts pumps to pump oil from storage tanks to treating units.
• Opens valves to mix specified chemicals with oil, and adjusts controls to heat mixture to specified temperature.
• Starts centrifugal machines that break up oil and water emulsions and drain off water.
• Opens valves and starts pumps to transfer oil into settling tanks where sediment is precipitated from oil.
• Tests sample in gravity- or centrifugal-separation machine to determine content of oil specified for pipeline transportation.
• Pumps treated oil into pipelines leading to refinery.
• Cleans and lubricates motors, pumps, and other moving parts of units.
• Records data, such as volume of oil treated, operating temperatures of units, and test results.
• May operate pumps at oil well sites.
• May tend treating-plant equipment to remove impurities from natural gas.