ABOUT

THE SHALE LIFE

The U.S. Census Bureau has long pegged Loving County’s population at less than 100, making it one of the country’s emptiest counties. Now, the West Texas community swells with more than 1,000 daily workers.

In the past five years, South Texas’ La Salle County, population 7,100, has gained some 1,300 residents, thousands of transient laborers and has built at least 20 hotels.

Not long ago, Karnes County, an hour southeast of San Antonio, was home to some of Texas’ poorest communities. But since 2009, the county’s sales tax collections have exploded by a factor of 21, and it has minted dozens — if not hundreds — of new millionaires.

These types of stories, which Texas Tribune reporters traveled across the state’s shale regions to tell, are becoming common in Texas. That’s thanks to a surge in oil and gas production that has poured billions of dollars into local economies and created hundreds of thousands of jobs, providing lifelines to Texans who had struggled to find work in years past. The industry almost singlehandedly lifted Texas from the country’s last recession.

But the excitement and opportunities come with challenges and even tragedy: Rent and food prices are skyrocketing in the rapidly growing regions; the water-intensive energy production process is straining scarce resources; oilfield traffic is tearing up roads and killing drivers at high rates; and toxic compounds from drill sites may be making some residents sick. The swift changes have dropped huge responsibilities onto the plates of often-unprepared local officials, who must find solutions to boomtown problems while deciding how to invest new wealth.

“You take what is coming at you and you just hope and pray,” said Ray Kroll, the city development manager in Karnes City.


Texas oil permits

Each dot on this map represents the location of a drilling permit issued by the Texas Railroad Commission since 1951. The presence of a dot does not necessarily mean that an active well is located there — only that the commission granted the permit.

  • Drilling permits
  • Permian Basin permits
  • Eagle Ford permits

Spurred by technological advances like hydraulic fracturing, Texas has reached production numbers unseen in more than three decades. It’s pumping more than twice the oil it did three years ago, accounting for more than a third of all domestic production, even as production surges elsewhere in the country. Meanwhile, Texas accounts for about a quarter of all U.S. natural gas production, and the state’s output is the highest it has been since 1975.

West Texas’ Permian Basin, which first cemented Texas’ reputation as a state rich in fossil fuels, is now home to the most lucrative shale fields in the country. That has breathed new life into towns that rode the boom-and-bust cycles of the past.

South Texas is also driving much of the growth. The mad dash to the region’s Eagle Ford Shale has given many communities their first taste of a boom.

But these booms come with unsettling questions: How long will the bonanza last? And will an eventual drop in oil prices decimate local economies — as has happened throughout Texas’ history?

Estimates of the boom’s longevity keep getting pushed back — five years, 10 years, now 25 years. Experts say this boom is different than years’ past, thanks to new technology and a more stable global fossil fuels market. “When people look back on this in 20 years, we’ll consider this the golden age,” James LeBas, a tax and fiscal consultant for the Texas Oil and Gas Association, told lawmakers last summer.

The growth can’t last forever, as a recent four-month tumble in oil prices shows. As oil-producing nations weigh their options, economists say the conditions may not hit Texas as hard as states like North Dakota. That’s partly because Texas crude is closer to refineries and is less expensive to to transport. Still, Texas production could slow – at least in the short run. But opinions about what price will stop new drilling and choke back wells vary by firm and location within each shale play.

Longtime Permian Basin residents hardly need another reminder that what goes up typically comes down.

After oil prices plummeted in the 1980s, many folks in West Texas slapped this message onto their car bumpers: “Please God, Just Give Me One More Oil Boom. I Promise Not to Blow It Next Time.”

This is their chance.

Texas crude oil production since 1935
(in thousands of barrels)

Source: Texas Railroad Commission


2013
703,119
2012
533,141
2011
393,880
2010
356,911
2009
344,527
2008
346,632
2007
336,222
2006
340,885
2005
344,226
2004
349,233
2003
357,240
2002
364,314
2001
378,849
2000
398,678
1999
406,815
1998
457,499
1997
488,860
1996
495,378
1995
511,962
1994
541,482
1993
574,568
1992
612,692
1991
646,776
1990
645,941
1989
650,514
1988
698,224
1987
725,029
1986
784,106
1985
830,597
1984
845,502
1983
849,072
1982
871,780
1981
897,573
1980
931,078
1979
978,544
1978
1040,966
1977
1,101,137
1976
1,153,941
1975
1,185,683
1974
1,225,166
1973
1,257,057
1972
1,263,412
1971
1,182,371
1970
1,207,625
1969
1,107,146
1968
1,087,825
1967
1,073,848
1966
1,000,325
1965
932,810
1964
928,606
1963
915,420
1962
894,023
1961
894,765
1960
892,084
1959
944,410
1958
909,958
1957
1,057,997
1956
1,078,886
1955
1,002,480
1954
954,434
1953
1,000,545
1952
1,009,793
1951
991,983
1950
817,842
1949
736,627
1948
893,314
1947
816,188
1946
755,900
1945
751,045
1944
741,126
1943
587,436
1942
477,828
1941
499,208
1940
486,662
1939
476,550
1938
468,782
1937
506,067
1936
418,776
1935
375,617

The Shale Life Project Contributors

Project Managers

Becca Aaronson

Emily Ramshaw

Jacob Villanueva

Developers

Becca Aaronson

Ryan Murphy

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Jacob Villanueva

Multimedia

Ivan Pierre Aguirre

Chase Chesnutt

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Martin Do Nascimento

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Reporters & Editors

Aman Batheja

Brandi Grissom

Terri Langford

Jim Malewitz

Ayan Mittra

David Muto

Emily Ramshaw

Neena Satija