(The Center Square) – An additional 700 upstream oil and natural gas jobs were added in Texas in April, bringing the job count to just shy of 200,000 for the first time in over three years.
The Texas oil and natural gas job growth contributed to Texas once again breaking three employment records last month.
In April, Texas again led the U.S. in job creation and surpassed its previous record broken in March for having the greatest number of total jobs added, the greatest number of total Texans employed, and the largest total Texas labor force in state history.
Total upstream jobs in April of 199,400 was 9.7% higher than total upstream jobs in April 2022.
The upstream sector includes oil and natural gas extraction and some small amounts of mining. It excludes other industry sectors like refining, petrochemicals, fuels wholesaling, oilfield equipment manufacturing, pipelines, and gas utilities, which support hundreds of thousands of additional jobs in Texas.
Since the COVID-low point in September 2020, months of increase in upstream oil and natural gas employment in Texas outnumbered months of decrease by 27 to 4. Texas oil and natural gas jobs pay among the highest wages in Texas, with an average salary of $115,000.
“Texas’ energy leadership continues to meet domestic and global energy needs,” Todd Staples, president of the Texas Oil & Gas Association, said. “The additional employment, even during uncertain economic times, is a strong testament to the commitment of this industry to deliver.”
Demand for jobs in the industry is expected to grow as the Texas oil and natural gas industry is expected to keep leading the U.S. in production output.
According to a new U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) projection, U.S. oil production in June is expected to grow by 41,000 barrels per day (b/d) to top 9.33 million b/d.
In the Permian Basin, the most prolific shale oil basin in the U.S. located in west Texas and southeast New Mexico, oil production output is expected to increase by 15,000 b/d to reach 5.71 million b/d. In south Texas, oil production in the Eagle Ford Shale is also expected to see gains of 2,000 b/d to total 1.108 million b/d.
Domestic natural gas production is also expected to reach 97.239 billion cubic feet per day (bcf/d) in June, led by Texas. Production in the Permian is expected to grow to 22.552 bcf/d; Eagle Ford production is expected to total 7.248 bcf/d.
“Continued growth in employment and production levels for the Texas oil and natural gas industry,” Ed Longanecker, president of the Texas Independent Producers and Royalty Owners Association (TIPRO), said, “equates to enhanced energy security for our country and unmatched economic contributions to our state.”
In order to strengthen energy security and continued economic growth, “federal policymakers must remove, not add, regulatory barriers to unleash the true potential and positive impact of domestic oil and natural gas production,” he said. “This includes long overdue federal permitting reform.”
TIPRO has called on Congress to include permitting reform in the final debt ceiling package that’s being negotiated among congressional leaders and the White House.
Longanecker has argued that the “hostile federal policy environment and related rhetoric for domestic oil and natural gas production is also contributing to uncertainty in the U.S. and global markets, which could drive the cost of goods and services higher for American consumers, despite the economic dampening rate-setting efforts by the Federal Reserve Board.
“U.S. policymakers are placing undue demands on energy producers,” he added. “If we want price stability, and if we want to ensure a secure domestic energy supply, we need a stable regulatory environment in the U.S. Policymakers and the current administration must stop vilifying our industry and should work collaboratively with operators to develop a coherent federal energy policy strategy, including opening federal leasing, approving permitting for energy infrastructure and again providing the regulatory certainty needed to support long-term investments that are necessary to address our own energy needs and those of our allies abroad.”
This article First appeared in the center square