American Oil and Gas Reporter - March 2020 - 75

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ConventionSection: Texas Independent Producers & Royalty Owners

TIPRO Touts Industry's
Considerable Role
By Danny Boyd
Special Correspondent
AUSTIN, TX.-In the course of a
decade, Permian Basin oil production
has more than quintupled, a fact not lost
on the Texas Independent Producers and
Royalty Owners Association.
The Permian's roaring resurgence, a
major contributor to the United States'
countrywide energy revival, is a compelling story that must be told to policymakers, regulators, candidates and the
public to promote the interests of producers
and communities that provide the dollars
and manpower undergirding economic
growth and national security, TIPRO leaders say.
As members prepare to gather March
23-24 for the TIPRO's 74th Annual Convention at the Hilton Anatole Hotel in
Dallas, the association continues to tout
impressive Permian facts from its Jan. 8
"Decade of the Permian Basin" report.
"The Permian Basin report recognizes
what innovators in our industry can do
if given the opportunity and when challenges are removed to allow us to operate
correctly, which is in an environmentally
sensitive and appropriate way," reflects
TIPRO Chairman Eugene Garcia, president of San Antonio-based Hurd Enterprises Ltd. "Specifically, looking at some
of the past decade's numbers, the impact
of what has happened in the Permian
has changed the world. Not only has it
benefitted the region and our state economically, but it has fundamentally
changed how people perceive energy
during the past decade, and globally has
forced a lot of discussion on the meaning
of energy independence."
Staggering Stats
Since 2009, direct oil and natural gas
employment in the Permian, which includes 63 counties in West Texas and
Southeast New Mexico, added 42,833
jobs, TIPRO's report notes, citing state,
federal and industry figures. That jump
brought total direct oil and gas employment
to 87,603, 3,200 more than the previous
year. The average annual wage of $98,000

is 101% higher than the region's average
private sector wages, the report reveals.
Permian oil output skyrocketed from
fewer than 1 million barrels a day in 2009
to more than 4 MMbbl/d in 2019, with
some forecasts predicting oil production
would nearly double by 2023, TIPRO
President Ed Longanecker points out.
Last year, the United States officially
became the globe's leading oil and natural
gas producer, with the Permian Basin
surpassing Saudi Arabia's Ghawar field
to become the top producing oil field, he
notes. For 2019, Permian Basin oil production grew 255 MMbbl from the previous year, for a record 1.5 billion cumulative barrels of output, statistics show.
Permian Basin natural gas production
rose 3.6 trillion cubic feet between 20092019, a 217% increase, with gas production climbing 1.1 Tcf in 2019 to a record
5.3 Tcf, the report states.
Six Permian Basin counties saw oil
production increase more than 100 MMbbl
between 2009-2019, including Texas
counties: Reeves with 190.8 MMbbl,
Midland with 171.5 MMbbl, Loving with
118.9 MMbbl, and Martin with 111.0
MMbbl, TIPRO indicates.
New Mexico counties eclipsing 100
MMbbl in additional production during
the decade are Lea, with 150.6 MMbbl
and Eddy with 103.3 MMbbl.
The largest rise in oil production between 2009-2019 on a percentage basis
occurred in Culberson County, Tx., where
output rose 51,312%, Longanecker adds.
Major Employer
The largest Permian Basin counties
by oil and gas employment in 2019 were
Midland with 33,328 jobs, Ector, Tx.,
with 14,791; Lea with 8,356 jobs; Eddy
with 7,766; and Hockley, Tx., with 2,765,
he says.
According to TIPRO's report, the
largest growth in oil and gas employment
from 2009-2019 occurred in Midland
County, which added 20,802 jobs, followed
by Ector at 7,693, Eddy with 4,985, Lea
at 2,407 and Hockley with 1,513.
Texas oil and gas employment accounted for 40% of the national total

with the industry supporting 361,271
direct jobs in the Lone Star State last
year, 5,550 more than the previous year,
despite a downturn in oil and gas employment in the second half of 2019, according to TIPRO's latest "State of Energy" report issued in conjunction with "A
Decade of the Permian Basin."
The collective payroll in the U.S. oil
and gas industry totaled $103 billion in
2019, with industry purchases of U.S.
goods and services exceeding $538 billion from more 900 business sectors,
TIPRO notes.
Total U.S. goods and services purchased by the Permian Basin oil and gas
industry exceeded an estimated $26 billion
in 2019, 47 percent of which came from
within the region, Longanecker says.
Nationally, the U.S. oil and gas industry
employed 895,629 in 2019, up 8,454
year over year, and paid a national annual
average wage of $114,745, more than
double average private sector wages, statistics reveal.
Challenges Abound
Both reports are a vital part of TIPRO's
work supplying elected officials with upto-date information demonstrating the industry's importance to Texas and the
nation and highlighting the need to support
producing-area communities, Longanecker
reflects.
He says recent challenges include the
proposed "Fracking Ban Act," the first
congressional attempt to ban hydraulic
fracturing across the United States, which
has been introduced by Democratic presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders,
I-Vt., and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.
Legislative measures that seek to ban
the technique should be a wake-up call
for rational American voters, Longanecker
suggests. "In Texas alone, a frac ban
would put over 2 million direct and
indirect jobs at risk, negatively impact
hundreds of billions of dollars in oiland-gas-related spending in our state,
and wreak a plethora of other devastating
consequences on our state and country,"
he warns.
MARCH 2020 75
American Oil and Gas Reporter - March 2020

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