Texas Upstream Jobs Decrease, Industry Body Highlights

In a statement sent to Rigzone by the Texas Independent Producers and Royalty Owners Association (TIPRO), which cited the latest Current Employment Statistics (CES) report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), TIPRO noted that Texas upstream employment dipped in November after five consecutive months of growth.

“According to TIPRO’s analysis, direct Texas upstream employment for November totaled 194,400, a decrease of 1,500 industry positions from October employment numbers, subject to revisions,” TIPRO said in the statement.

“This represented a decline of 600 jobs in oil and gas extraction and 900 in the services sector,” it added.

TIPRO noted in the statement that “employment fluctuations are normal and demand for talent remains high in the Texas oil and natural gas industry”. It added that its new workforce data “yet again indicated strong job postings for the Texas oil and natural gas industry”.

The organization highlighted in the statement that, according to TIPRO, “there were 10,157 active unique jobs postings for the Texas oil and natural gas industry last month, including 3,047 new postings”.

“In comparison, the state of California had 3,476 unique job postings in November, followed by New York (2,530), Florida (1,784), Pennsylvania (1,340) and Oklahoma (1,521),” it added.

“TIPRO reported a total of 51,420 unique job postings nationwide last month within the oil and natural gas sector,” it continued.

TIPRO noted that, among the 19 specific industry sectors it uses to define the Texas oil and natural gas industry, gasoline stations with convenience stores led in the ranking for unique job listings in November with 2,563 postings. This was followed by support activities for oil and gas Operations, with 2,319 postings, and crude petroleum extraction, with 690 postings, TIPRO pointed out in the statement.

The leading three cities by total unique oil and natural gas job postings were Houston, with 2,538 postings, Midland, with 717 postings, and Odessa, with 396 postings, TIPRO highlighted in the statement. The top three companies ranked by unique job postings in November were Cefco, with 1,218, Love’s, with 634,  and John Wood Group, with 329, TIPRO revealed.

“Of the top ten companies listed by unique job postings last month, five companies were in the services sector, two in the gasoline stations with convenience stores category, two midstream companies, and one oil and gas operator,” TIPRO said in the statement.

Top posted industry occupations for November included first-line supervisors of retail sales workers, with 626 postings, general maintenance and repair workers, with 302 postings, and customer service representatives, with 283 postings, according to TIPRO. The top posted job titles for November included customer service representatives and store managers, each with 245 postings, and maintenance people, with 181 postings, TIPRO outlined in the statement.

“Top qualifications for unique job postings included valid Driver’s License (1,692), Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) (278) and Transportation Worker Identification Credential Card (181),” TIPRO said in the statement.

“TIPRO reports that 41 percent of unique job postings had no education requirement listed, 34 percent required a bachelor’s degree and 26 percent required a high school diploma or GED,” it added.

“There were 1,666 advertised salary observations (16 percent of the 10,157 matching postings) with a median salary of $62,300. The highest percentage of advertised salaries (26 percent) were in the $90,000 to $519,000 range,” it continued.

In its statement, TIPRO highlighted that, according to recent data released by the Texas comptroller’s office, in November, Texas energy producers paid $488 million in oil production taxes.

“Producers last month also paid $157 million to the state in natural gas production taxes,” TIPRO added.

“Production taxes paid by the oil and natural gas industry are used to support major revenue streams for the state, including public education funding, the State Highway Fund, the Rainy Day Fund and other vital parts of the state budget,” it continued.

Also in its statement, TIPRO highlighted “new production forecasts by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) showing sustained growth in U.S. crude oil production for 2025”.

“U.S. crude oil production next year is projected to average 13.5 million barrels per day. This will follow record-breaking production in August, when an average of 13.4 million barrels per day of crude oil was produced in the United States,” TIPRO added.

In its latest short term energy outlook (STEO), which was released earlier this month, the EIA forecast that U.S. crude oil production, including lease condensate, will average 13.24 million barrels per day in 2024 and 13.52 million barrels per day in 2025.

Output from Lower 48 states, excluding the Gulf of Mexico, is expected to make up 11.05 million barrels per day of the 2024 total and 11.31 million barrels per day of the 2025 total, the STEO outlined. Production from the Permian region is projected to make up 6.33 million barrels per day of the 2024 total and 6.53 million barrels per day of next year’s total, the STEO highlighted.

The STEO outlined that the Permian region production figure is based on geographic region and not geologic formation.

In a statement sent to Rigzone last month, which cited the latest CES report at the time from the BLS, TIPRO said, according to its analysis, “direct Texas upstream employment for October totaled 196,100, an increase of 1,400 industry jobs from revised September employment numbers”.

“All gains in upstream employment occurred in the services sector last month, while oil and gas extraction jobs remained unchanged,” TIPRO added in that statement.

In another statement sent to Rigzone in October, which also cited the latest CES report at the time from the BLS, TIPRO said, according to its analysis, “direct Texas upstream employment for September totaled 195,400, an increase of 800 industry jobs from revised August employment numbers”.

“The Texas upstream employment data represents a decrease of 900 jobs in oil and gas extraction and an increase of 1,700 positions in the services sector last month,” TIPRO added in that statement.

TIPRO was founded in 1946 and represents nearly 3,000 individuals and companies from the Texas oil and gas industry, according to the organization’s website, which notes that TIPRO is one of the country’s largest oil and gas trade associations and the strongest advocacy group representing both independents and royalty owners in Texas.

The organization’s latest state of energy report, which was released earlier this year, noted that the U.S. oil and gas industry employed 2,043,855 professionals in 2023, which it said represented a net increase of 56,373 direct jobs compared to 2022, subject to revisions.

“When incorporating direct, indirect, and induced multipliers for employment at the national level, the industry supported more than 24 million jobs last year,” the report added.

“There were 385,662 direct U.S. upstream sector jobs in 2023, a net increase of 23,709 jobs compared to 2022,” it continued.

The report went on to state that Texas led the nation in oil and gas jobs with 471,631 people employed in this industry.

“23 percent of all oil and gas jobs nationwide were located in Texas last year,” it added.

“When incorporating direct, indirect, and induced multipliers for oil and gas employment, the industry supported a total of 2.9 million jobs in Texas last year,” the report revealed.

To contact the author, email andreas.exarheas@rigzone.com