Texas Independent Producers and Royalty Owners Association said April 18 that upstream employment in the Texas oil and gas industry declined in March. Austin-based TIPRO cited data from U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics show Texas upstream employment for March was 204,400 – a decline of 700 industry positions from February. It represents a decline of 900 in the services sector and increase of 200 jobs in oil and gas extraction.
TIPRO reported continued strong job postings for the industry in Texas. There were 10,120 active unique job postings for the Texas oil and gas industry last month, including 2,212 in Houston, 635 in Midland and 412 in Odessa.
The Texas comptroller’s office said Texas energy producers paid $425 million in oil production taxes. Last month producers paid $288 million to the state in natural gas production taxes – up from February and 36 percent higher than a year ago.