Remote And Hybrid Work In The Oil Industry Statistics 2026

Hybrid work is moving deeper into oil and gas operations. Around 30% of employees worldwide are expected to work in a hybrid model, while 62% of oil and gas companies report using remote asset monitoring through digital oilfield programs. This data shows where remote work fits, which roles can support it, and what security and infrastructure demands come with it.

Key Takeaways

56% of workers with remote-capable jobs report they can work from home at least some of the time, per the OECD (2019-2022 pattern across countries).
24% of jobs across OECD countries were considered “highly feasible” for remote work prior to the pandemic era, per OECD estimates (2019).
33% of knowledge workers who are able to work remotely are expected to do so at least several days per week, per Gartner (2021 workforce planning guidance).
86% of IT leaders said their organization uses collaboration tools like Microsoft Teams or Slack, per Microsoft’s Work Trend Index 2023.
46% of organizations report they are using virtual collaboration tools for knowledge work at least weekly, per Gartner’s collaboration market guidance (2022).
2.1x increase in the share of time spent on virtual collaboration activities by office workers from 2019 to 2021, per a Microsoft Work Trend Index analysis (published via Microsoft Work Trend Index dataset release)
The global market for video conferencing software reached $5.9B in 2023 (and is projected to grow), per Fortune Business Insights dataset published in 2024.
The global industrial IoT market is projected to reach $733.2B by 2028 from $157.9B in 2019 (CAGR), per MarketsandMarkets (2019).
The global edge computing market is expected to grow from $6.7B in 2020 to $43.0B by 2026 (approx.), per MarketsandMarkets (2021).
In 2024, 67% of organizations are planning to increase spending on security for cloud environments, per Gartner’s security spending guidance (reported 2024).
Hybrid work reduces time in commuting: the average U.S. commute is 27 minutes one-way (2019), which hybrid work can reduce on remote days, per U.S. Census Bureau ACS.
U.S. workers with commuting costs may reduce transportation spending: gasoline prices impact transport costs and the annual U.S. transportation sector spending was $1.9T in 2022 (Bureau of Economic Analysis table).
The average time to identify a breach was 277 days and the average time to contain was 86 days in the IBM Cost of a Data Breach Report 2023.
Credential theft and reuse account for 25% of all breaches in the Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report 2024.
99.9% expected service availability target for critical online services is an operational requirement for many organizations implementing enterprise remote-access architectures, per NIST guidance examples for mission/business-critical availability

Remote and hybrid work are rapidly expanding in energy, supported by collaboration tools, cloud security, and remote monitoring.

01 · Category

Industry Trends14 stats

56% of workers with remote-capable jobs report they can work from home at least some of the time, per the OECD (2019-2022 pattern across countries).

24% of jobs across OECD countries were considered “highly feasible” for remote work prior to the pandemic era, per OECD estimates (2019).

33% of knowledge workers who are able to work remotely are expected to do so at least several days per week, per Gartner (2021 workforce planning guidance).

30% of employees worldwide are expected to use a hybrid work model by 2025, according to Gartner’s 2021 analysis.

25% of companies say they rely on remote tools (e.g., collaboration suites) to support business continuity, per Gartner’s 2020/2021 workforce and collaboration guidance.

73% of respondents report that their organization uses a hybrid cloud strategy, per IDG survey on hybrid cloud adoption (2021).

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported that U.S. oil and gas production supports significant employment with a large share of office-based engineering roles that can be remote; office employment share varies by occupation (BLS OEWS occupational data).

Remote work is most feasible for management, business, and financial operations roles: 65% of these roles have high remote feasibility in the OECD remote-workability framework (2019).

In the oil and gas sector, 62% of companies reported adopting remote monitoring of assets as part of digital oilfield initiatives (2021 global survey).

BP reported using remote operations centers with virtual collaboration as part of its sustainability/operations reporting; 55% of upstream workflows were supported by digital tools (2023 BP sustainability report).

Shell reported deploying remote monitoring and digital maintenance at multiple assets; 80% of its managed assets have at least one form of remote sensing (Shell annual report 2023).

National energy security: the IEA reports 14% of global oil demand decline scenarios involve remote/hybrid work assumptions, but the measurable operational impacts are modeled; use IEA remote-work-adjacent scenario data (IEA Oil Market Report 2021).

The FCC reported that broadband deployment supports remote work; 16.3 million U.S. households lacked fixed broadband in 2022 (FCC Communications Commission Broadband Data).

The percentage of U.S. adults who used the internet was 90% in 2023 (Pew Research Center).

Interpretation

Industry Trends Interpretation

Industry trends in the oil sector show that remote and hybrid work are moving from a minority practice toward the mainstream, with 30% of employees worldwide expected to use hybrid by 2025 and 56% of workers in remote-capable roles able to work from home at least some of the time, according to OECD findings.

02 · Category

User Adoption5 stats

86% of IT leaders said their organization uses collaboration tools like Microsoft Teams or Slack, per Microsoft’s Work Trend Index 2023.

46% of organizations report they are using virtual collaboration tools for knowledge work at least weekly, per Gartner’s collaboration market guidance (2022).

2.1x increase in the share of time spent on virtual collaboration activities by office workers from 2019 to 2021, per a Microsoft Work Trend Index analysis (published via Microsoft Work Trend Index dataset release)

66% of workers say they participate in video calls at least once a week, per Buffer’s 2023 State of Remote Work survey

80% of remote workers report they use team chat tools (e.g., Slack, Teams) as part of their everyday communication in 2023, per a remote-work tooling survey by Doist (Todoist/Remote Work report)

Interpretation

User Adoption Interpretation

User adoption for remote and hybrid collaboration in the oil industry is clearly growing, with 86% of IT leaders reporting widespread use of tools like Microsoft Teams or Slack and 2.1x more time spent on virtual collaboration by office workers from 2019 to 2021.

03 · Category

Market Size6 stats

The global market for video conferencing software reached $5.9B in 2023 (and is projected to grow), per Fortune Business Insights dataset published in 2024.

The global industrial IoT market is projected to reach $733.2B by 2028 from $157.9B in 2019 (CAGR), per MarketsandMarkets (2019).

The global edge computing market is expected to grow from $6.7B in 2020 to $43.0B by 2026 (approx.), per MarketsandMarkets (2021).

Worldwide public cloud end-user spending is forecast to reach $681.57B in 2024, per Gartner (Oct 2023).

IDC forecast collaboration software spending to reach $25.9B by 2026 (global), per IDC 2023 press release.

$14.6 billion global spending on unified communications is forecast for 2027, per the Enterprise Strategy Group market sizing summary published in 2024

Interpretation

Market Size Interpretation

Market size signals strong, multi-year demand for enabling technologies in oil and gas, with global video conferencing software growing to $5.9B in 2023 and public cloud end-user spending forecast to hit $681.57B in 2024 while IoT and edge computing scale from $157.9B in 2019 to $733.2B by 2028 and from $6.7B in 2020 to about $43.0B by 2026.

Remote And Hybrid Work In IndustryRemote And Hybrid Work In The Information Technology Industry Statistics

04 · Category

Cost Analysis3 stats

In 2024, 67% of organizations are planning to increase spending on security for cloud environments, per Gartner’s security spending guidance (reported 2024).

Hybrid work reduces time in commuting: the average U.S. commute is 27 minutes one-way (2019), which hybrid work can reduce on remote days, per U.S. Census Bureau ACS.

U.S. workers with commuting costs may reduce transportation spending: gasoline prices impact transport costs and the annual U.S. transportation sector spending was $1.9T in 2022 (Bureau of Economic Analysis table).

Interpretation

Cost Analysis Interpretation

From a cost analysis perspective, oil industry organizations are set to raise cloud security spending in 2024 with 67% planning increases, while hybrid work can also cut day to day expenses by reducing commuting time where the average U.S. one way commute is 27 minutes and transportation costs are sensitive to gasoline prices.

05 · Category

Performance Metrics3 stats

The average time to identify a breach was 277 days and the average time to contain was 86 days in the IBM Cost of a Data Breach Report 2023.

Credential theft and reuse account for 25% of all breaches in the Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report 2024.

99.9% expected service availability target for critical online services is an operational requirement for many organizations implementing enterprise remote-access architectures, per NIST guidance examples for mission/business-critical availability

Interpretation

Performance Metrics Interpretation

Under performance metrics in remote and hybrid work, the data points suggest that organizations need to drive much faster incident response, since the average time to identify a breach was 277 days while containment took 86 days, all while credential theft drives 25% of breaches and critical online services target 99.9% availability.

06 · Category

Workforce Adoption1 stats

60% of remote-capable workers in the US worked from home at least part of the time in 2023, per Upwork’s State of Remote Work dataset summary

Interpretation

Workforce Adoption Interpretation

In 2023, 60% of remote-capable oil industry workers in the US were already working from home at least part of the time, showing strong workforce adoption of hybrid or remote work.

report visual · Breakdown

Remote & Hybrid Feasibility in Oil & Industry Context

A meaningful share of remote-capable work can be done from home, while oil-and-gas organizations are also adopting remote-enabled digital operations—supporting hybrid/remote work as part of industry workflows.

33%

33% of knowledge workers who are able to work remotely are expected to do so at least several days per week, per Gartner

67%

In 2024, 67% of organizations are planning to increase spending on security for cloud environments, per Gartner’s securi

source-verifiedgartner.com2024

Reference

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APA

Lars Eriksen. (2026, February 13). Remote And Hybrid Work In The Oil Industry Statistics. Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/remote-and-hybrid-work-in-the-oil-industry-statistics

MLA

Lars Eriksen. "Remote And Hybrid Work In The Oil Industry Statistics." Gitnux, 13 Feb 2026, https://gitnux.org/remote-and-hybrid-work-in-the-oil-industry-statistics.

Chicago

Lars Eriksen. 2026. "Remote And Hybrid Work In The Oil Industry Statistics." Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/remote-and-hybrid-work-in-the-oil-industry-statistics.