Upstream oil and natural gas employment in Texas grew in September by 900 jobs from August, according to the Texas Workforce Commission.
Since an employment slump in September last year, the industry has added 45,900 upstream jobs in the state, averaging growth of 1,913 jobs/month. At 202,900 upstream jobs, September jobs were up by 34,900, or 20.8%, from the same month last year.
“What we need are policies that enable critically needed infrastructure projects to move forward to continue job growth and maintain energy security for our country,” said Todd Staples, president of the Texas Oil & Gas Association.
The Texas Independent Producers and Royalty Owners Association (TIPRO) also noted strong job posting data for upstream, midstream and downstream sectors for the month of September.
While posting data remained strong, job growth slowed in September compared to previous months, likely due to a workforce shortage facing the industry, TIPRO said.
Among the 14 specific industry sectors TIPRO uses to define the Texas oil and natural gas industry, Support Activities for Oil and Gas Operations topped unique job listings in September with 3,066 postings, followed by Crude Petroleum Extraction (1,558), and Petroleum Refineries (1,108).
TIPRO obtains its figures from the Current Employment Statistics (CES) report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
The leading three cities by total unique oil and natural gas job postings were Houston (4,181), Midland (1,028) and Odessa (541), said TIPRO.
TIPRO highlighted that taxes paid by the oil and natural gas industry to the state of Texas generated over $1 billion in tax revenue in September. During the month, Texas oil producers paid $552 million in production taxes, up 41% year/year. Natural gas producers, meanwhile, last month paid $480 million in state taxes, up 91% in the same comparison.
Ed Longanecker, president of TIPRO, said, "We continue to see employment and production growth, and high demand for available workers in the Texas oil and natural gas industry despite the many challenges facing producers today. OPEC’s oil output cuts and geopolitical conflicts also make clear why it is so important for the U.S. to encourage domestic production and to continue exporting our resources into the global market.”
He added that “constantly pointing the finger at energy producers will not lower global prices."
The Haynesville and Permian natural gas basins in Texas are leading the charge in natural gas production growth in the United States. Overall natural gas production has hit record highs in recent months, eclipsing 100 Bcf/d.
