Oil and gas industry employees face shaky recovery as Texas emerges to Covid-19 resurgence
Tens of thousands of oil and gas industry employees have lost their jobs in Texas during the coronavirus pandemic so far, with 26,000+ in April alone. Texas is the country's largest oil-producing state, and the industry contributes to 14% of the state's economy and supports one in six jobs. From January until the end of May, 60% of bankruptcies in the oil sector were in Texas alone. Oil and gas companies had cut production and expenditures, slashed staff, and paused well completions, and while the state had re-opened recently, surges in coronavirus cases in the last week have led the state to pause re-opening, potentially leading to another shutdown or pause in oil production. Insiders are pessimistic that growth will quickly return to pre-Covid-19 levels, saying that recovery will be slow.
See "Oil and gas industry employees face shaky recovery as Texas emerges to Covid-19 resurgence", Larry Madowo, The Guardian, June 26, 2020