Texas Border Business
AUSTIN, Texas – Citing the latest Current Employment Statistics (CES) report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the Texas Independent Producers and Royalty Owners Association (TIPRO) today highlighted new employment figures showing growth in upstream employment for the month of July 2024. According to TIPRO’s analysis, direct Texas upstream employment for July totaled 194,100, an increase of 1,600 industry jobs from revised June employment numbers.
TIPRO’s new workforce data yet again indicated strong job postings for the Texas oil and natural gas industry. According to the association, there were 11,524 active unique jobs postings for the Texas oil and natural gas industry last month, including 3,641 new job postings added during the month by companies. In comparison, the state of California had 4,453 unique job postings last month, followed by Florida (2,471), New York (1,662), Pennsylvania (1,606) and Louisiana (1,593). TIPRO reported a total of 59,766 unique job postings nationwide last month within the oil and natural gas sector.
Among the 19 specific industry sectors TIPRO uses to define the Texas oil and natural gas industry, Gasoline Stations with Convenience Stores led in the ranking for unique job listings in July with 2,820 postings, followed by Support Activities for Oil and Gas Operations (2,480) and Crude Petroleum Extraction (943). The leading three cities by total unique oil and natural gas job postings were Houston (3,286), Midland (863) and Odessa (471), said TIPRO.
The top three companies ranked by unique job postings in July were Love’s (985), Baker Hughes (623), and Cefco (559), according to the association. Of the top ten companies listed by unique job postings last month, four companies were in the services sector, four in the gasoline stations with convenience stores category, one midstream company and one upstream company. Top posted industry occupations for July included retail salespersons (553), first-line supervisors of retail sales workers (424), and maintenance and repair workers, general (381). The top posted job titles for July included sales associates (224), assistant store manager (142) and maintenance technicians (120).
Top qualifications for unique job postings included valid Driver’s License (1,823), Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) (264) and CDL Class A License (212). TIPRO reports that 38 percent of unique job postings had no education requirement listed, 34 percent required a bachelor’s degree and 30 percent required a high school diploma or GED. There were 2,291 advertised salary observations (20 percent of the 11,524 matching postings) with a median salary of $62,300. The highest percentage of advertised salaries (30 percent) were in the $90,000 to $500,000 range.
Additional TIPRO workforce trends data:
A sample of 500 industry job postings in Texas for July 2024 can be viewed here.
The top three posting sources in July included www.indeed.com (5,115), www.simplyhired.com (3,095) and www.dejobs.org (1,827).
TIPRO also highlights recent data released from the Texas comptroller’s office showing significant tax contributions provided by the Texas oil and natural gas industry during the month of July. Of note, Texas energy producers last month paid $557 million in oil production taxes, an impressive jump of 27 percent compared to a year ago. Producers in July also contributed an additional $164 million in revenue from natural gas production taxes. Revenue collected from oil and natural gas severance taxes is used help to support and pay for vital public services across the Lone Star State, including road and infrastructure investments, water conservation projects, schools and education, first responders and more.
Additionally, TIPRO points out signals from oil and gas companies showing efficiency gains enabling Texas producers to deliver more energy amid rising production levels. Advanced technologies, innovations, new drilling strategies and strong well performance are allowing Texas producers to boost their output, particularly in energy-rich regions like the Permian Basin. Recent government data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) shows total oil production from the Permian is at record levels, topping 6 million barrels per day, and is forecasted this year to surpass 2023 amounts by nearly 8 percent. The Permian Basin accounts for nearly half of U.S. crude oil production. Overall, in the EIA’s latest energy outlook, the EIA said U.S. crude oil production will average 13.2 million barrels per day this year, up from an average of 12.9 million barrels per day last year.
Also this week, Texans for Natural Gas (TNG), an educational campaign managed by TIPRO, highlighted important pending legislation, the Energy Permitting Reform Act of 2024 (EPRA), that is critical in providing expedited approval for energy infrastructure projects to meet growing energy demand.
In July, U.S. Senators Joe Manchin (I-WV) and John Barrasso (R-WY) released a long-awaited bill that aims to expedite the development of domestic energy projects by streamlining the federal government’s energy infrastructure permitting process. Overregulation is consistently cited as an obstacle that has stalled energy projects across the country. Electricity demand will increase rapidly in the coming years, particularly in Texas, and provisions in the EPRA will help streamline processes for producers to meet that demand and provide reliable, affordable energy for years to come.
In the U.S., gaining permits to build energy infrastructure and connecting it to the electric grid is harder today than at any point in recent memory. Projects built between 2018 and 2022 faced an average wait time of four yearsbefore they could connect to the grid, up from less than two years for projects built between 2000 and 2007. Unclear and overlapping mandates, poor coordination among federal agencies, and unnecessarily long timelines are just some of the many hurdles energy projects face in development.
One of the most consequential proposals in the EPRA is reducing the statute of limitations under which parties can file lawsuits against agency actions. Currently, parties have six years following project approval to file suit against it, a practice that can cause decade-long delays. This bill reduces that deadline to 150 days.
The EPRA also requires expedited action from all parties involved in the project approval process, from agencies to the courtroom:
Courts are required to prioritize the review of permitting decisions on energy and mineral projects.
Agencies, for their part, are required to act within 180 days when a court either returns a permit for further review or vacates it entirely.
On LNG specifically, the bill requires the Secretary of Energy to approve or deny LNG export applications within 90 days of the final environmental review being published. If the secretary fails to take action within the 90 days, the application will be automatically approved.
The last point is particularly notable due to the Biden Administration’s pause on LNG export applications earlier this year. Though a federal court struck down the pause last month, litigation is ongoing and this bill seeks to do away with the pause entirely.
The EPRA streamlines several other permitting processes as well, including simplifying the oversight authority over interregional transmission projects, requiring offshore oil and gas drilling lease sales to be held annually through 2029 instead of once every two years, and removing a requirement for projects to obtain both state and federal drilling permits in specific instances.
Producers in Texas and across the country continue to prove their commitment to providing reliable and affordable energy with record-setting production. But as with great production comes great responsibility; particularly, the responsibility to provide adequate transportation to keep the energy flowing. As pipelines in the Permian Basin reach capacity, future production is threatened. The approval process for building additional pipelines can be convoluted, but the introduction of the EPRA is a promising step toward simplifying that process and ensuring that we can continue to meet our state’s growing energy demand.
“Texas producers continue to lead in providing access to reliable energy to meet growing global demand and it’s time for policymakers in Washington to work together in an expedited fashion to pass the EPRA,” said Ed Longanecker, president of TIPRO. “This important piece of legislation will remove infrastructure permitting delays and related federal bureaucracy to ensure that our vital energy reaches communities throughout the country and our allies abroad in a safe and efficient manner. TIPRO will continue to support this legislation and encourages all energy-minded Americans to contact their respective representatives in Washington to directly ask for their support,” concluded Longanecker.
The EPRA was approved by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee with a bipartisan vote in July and is currently pending before the full Senate. TIPRO believes chances of passage of a stand-alone bill will be challenging, however there is a possibility that it could be included in a broader legislative package during the lame-duck session after the election.
About TIPRO
The Texas Independent Producers & Royalty Owners Association (TIPRO) is a trade association representing the interests of nearly 3,000 independent oil and natural gas producers and royalty owners throughout Texas. As one of the nation’s largest statewide associations representing both independent producers and royalty owners, members include small businesses, the largest, publicly-traded independent producers, and mineral owners, estates, and trusts.