The Bust of Times in Texas

TEXAS – In little more than four years, the oil and gas from the Eagle Ford Shale has rocked Texas and the rest of the country. Even at the height of an oil boom, people worry about what happens next.

In 2012, the Railroad Commission issued more than 4,100 drilling permits for the shale, up from just 26 in 2008. Oil production in 2012 jumped to about 352,127 barrels a day, up from 127,965 barrels a day in 2011.

Real estate prices are soaring in places like Beeville, Karnes City, and Kenedy.

Housing is so scarce that the Cotulla Independent School District even had to build a small RV park on its property to give new hires a place to live.

A new H-E-B opened in Gonzales last year, and a Walmart Supercenter is under construction; another H-E-B will open this month in Carrizo Springs.

Dimmit County, once home to two RV parks, now has more than 60, and dozens of “man camps” have sprung up that can accommodate hundreds of oil field workers each.

The Carrizo Springs Consolidated Independent School District is building a new high school, which will accommodate up to 200 more students, but demand for materials is so high that the cost for concrete alone is $3 million over budget. The district’s tax base has swelled to $2.5 billion from $441 million in two years, and total enrollment is up.

Out in West Texas, the old Permian Basin has found new life. In 2012, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis noted that per capita income in Midland topped $65,000 in 2011, making it the second-richest metro area in the nation.

ExxonMobil, Chevron Phillips Chemical, and Dow Chemical, among others, have recently announced plans to build or expand petrochemical plants along the Texas coast.

All of this is plumping up the state’s finances. Oil production and the related taxes reached a record $2.1 billion in fiscal 2012, and oil and natural gas taxes combined are expected to add $5.3 billion to the state’s Rainy Day Fund by 2015.