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Texas oil and gas industry should temper its job-creation claims, report says

Jul 19, 2022
There’s been a hiring uptick, but "we're only about halfway" to pre-COVID employment numbers, the author of the IEEFA report says.
In the early part of the pandemic, the Texas oil and gas industry shed 20% of its workforce.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images

What kind of problems can abandoned oil wells leave behind?

Nov 9, 2021
One Texas rancher still trying to find out whether a leak from a decommissioned oil well is a sign of other problems on her land.
Ashley Watt stands on her family cattle ranch in Crane County, Texas.
Mitch Borden/Marfa Public Radio

Texas regulators want oil companies 'flaring' less gas

Aug 6, 2020
Burning excess natural gas can be less costly than figuring out a way to use it, but the practice spurs climate change and hurts air quality.
A gas flare burns at a Permian Basin plant. A study found that companies in the region  wasted $750 million worth of natural gas in 2018.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Texas oil regulator throws in the towel on supply cut

May 4, 2020
Low crude oil prices have already achieved what regulators were seeking: to cut state production.
The sun sets behind smoke rising from a refining plant in Houston.
Mark Felix/AFP via Getty Images

First the virus, then the oil crash, hit Midland, Texas

Apr 23, 2020
Midland, Texas, is ground zero for oil and gas production in the U.S., and much of the local economy, in some way or another, is tied to the industry. When West Texas Intermediate went negative for the first time ever on Monday, everybody in Midland felt it — on top of the coronavirus. This morning […]
A pumpjack in Midland. The Texas oil patch has never seen a bust like this one.

West Texas oil patch girds for bust as crude price craters toward $20 a barrel

Mar 18, 2020
The Permian Basin region, anchored by the towns of Midland and Odessa, has survived past shakeouts, but some think this could resemble the crash of the 1980s.
A crude oil pipeline in Texas.
Joe Raedle/Newsmakers