Ingham’s Texas Petro Index posts second largest decline since 1995

Texas Petro Index from Texas Alliance of Energy Producers declined sharply in April from the previous month “as the state’s oil and gas economy began to register the full effects of covid-19, the Saudi-Russian price war and the resulting economic shutdown.” The index fell to 171.0 in April from 181.9 in March; the 10.9 drop is the second largest monthly deline on record since the index started at 100.0 in January 1995. The index is a monthly measure by economist Karr Ingham of growth rates in the Texas upstream oil and gas industry based on indicators such as price, rig count, drilling permits, completions and employment. The April 2020 index is down 19.7 percent from 212.8 in April 2019.
Ingham said, “The Texas upstream oil and gas economy was already in a state of decline when covid-19 came along with drops in number of working rigs and industry employment, but the rate of decline has obviously accelerated sharply in March and April… The fallout will continue for some time with more to come in the way of employment loss and idled production capacity, and the TPI is certain to continue its decline in the coming months.”