Is the Texas oil industry suffering in the global downturn caused by the pandemic?
Stay-at-home orders have reduced demand and interrupted oil production in Texas, and the global slide in oil prices continues to put financial pressure on the industry in Texas as elsewhere.
Rystad Energy, a private research firm, counts 100,000 job losses in the industry, with 26,000 layoffs in Texas. Prices have recovered somewhat from lower levels in the spring, but a bankruptcy law firm, Haynes and Boone, has tallied 105 filings in Texas since 2015 involving $95 billion in debts, including 15 so far this year. The firm is expecting more filings as the recent $40-a-barrel price "is not a sufficient clearing price."
The Wall Street Journal reports that the state's Permian Basin region, last year one of the U.S.'s hottest labor markets, is struggling to survive.
