By far it's the job of the oil geologist that oil companies can pay a salary that comes up to the tremendous amount of $160,000 per year plus benefits. That happens because a petroleum geologist is usually a scientist that has expertise in petroleum lands and gives his insight about the best place to drill. Since a geologist is accountable for a great decision, he should have the highest paying job in the industry. However, companies usually have more than one geologist to ensure that the responsibility is spread and minimize the error risk that makes the companies lose a lot of money.