Texas’ record crude oil production last year resulted in a record amount of state and local taxes paid by the industry. The latest annual report from Texas Oil and Gas Association said oil and gas companies in Texas paid $26.3 million in taxes in 2023 – $1.5 billion more than the previous year. The report said the industry employs more than 480,000 people at an average salary of $124,000 a year.
Todd Staples, association president, told Texas Tribune the industry “has achieved these record-breaking milestones in spite of our federal government using every opportunity to thwart growth by delaying permits, canceling pipelines, and introducing regulatory uncertainty.”
U.S. crude oil production is forecast to set records again in 2024 and 2025 because of increased industry efficiency, but growth is expected to slow because of a decline in the number of active drilling rigs. Texas produced as much as 5.6 million barrels per day in 2023, and New Mexico produced as much as 1.8 million b/d. “2023 was such a blockbuster year that Texas efficiency rewrote its oil and natural gas record book,” Staples added.
Texas supplied 42 percent of the nation’s oil in 2023 – most of it coming from Permian Basin where the biggest names in the industry (Chevron, ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips) are drilling.