Oil and gas engineering and fuel and energy security are among the most in-demand specialties at oil and gas companies.
Specialists in oil and gas engineering, chemical engineering, and information security are among the most in-demand at oil and gas companies, according to monitoring data from Gubkin Russian State University of Oil and Gas (National Research University). The analysis takes into account the number of vacancies for young specialists and companies' training needs. This was announced by Viktor Telkov, Executive Secretary of the Admissions Committee at Gubkin University, at the conference "Higher Education – 2026+: How the New Admissions Model Links with HR Priorities" on February 18, 2026.
Gubkin University collaborates with more than 200 leading companies in the fuel and energy sector, implementing joint projects aimed at facilitating graduate employment and training personnel to meet specific company needs, noted Viktor Telkov. The university's partner companies include Gazprom PJSC, Gazprom Neft PJSC, Rosneft Oil Company PJSC, Transneft PJSC, RussNeft PJSC, Caspian Pipeline Consortium-R JSC, NOVATEK PJSC, Rosgeo JSC, and others.
"The demand for personnel in the oil and gas industry is insane! Our oil and gas companies are rapidly demanding graduates—geologists, oil and gas specialists, and process chemists. Highly qualified specialists are needed. The oil and gas industry is developing rapidly. Students need to be taught everything related to AI and big data. In other words, an ordinary oil or gas worker today is very close to an applied mathematician. Furthermore, many foreign specialists, companies, and technologies have left, and this niche is being filled by domestic projects that require specialists," emphasized Viktor Telkov.
According to companies and HR services, salaries in the oil and gas sector are above the Russian average. In 2024, they increased, according to various estimates, by 6-16% depending on the position, and in 2025, the increase was up to 10%.
"According to our monitoring, the salary growth of Gubkin University graduates during the first two years after graduation is 30%," noted Viktor Telkov.
Among the industry's largest employers, Gazprom, Rosneft, and Transneft are among the largest. These companies regularly post the most vacancies for young professionals.
"Employers are becoming increasingly demanding and want to hire fully qualified specialists who don't need to be retrained or further developed on-site, as there is often a lack of time and resources for this," emphasized Viktor Telkov.
In 2025, Gubkin University became the leader in the RAEX ranking for graduate demand among Russian industry universities.
