Oil and Gas Boom Brings Benefits to Entire Region
Published Apr 30, 2008
Valero refinery in Corpus Christi
As the demand for oil and natural gas continues to increase, so does the impact of the energy industry on the Coastal Bend region economy.
The region is home to some of the world’s most influential players in the energy industry including Halliburton, Weatherford International Ltd., Schlumberger Ltd. and Kiewit Offshore Services Ltd.
According to Dean Kruckenberg, executive director of the Alice/Jim Wells County Economic Development Corp., the current boom in the oil and gas industry is helping the area’s unemployment rate remain low as energy companies expand and hire at a steady pace.
“We’re also seeing that the higher prices for oil are making local projects that may not have been economically feasible in the past become more of a possibility today,” Kruckenberg says. “Several of the companies that originally came here with smaller initial investments have expanded their presence considerably in the area.”
Action in Alice
One of those expanding companies is Weatherford International, among the world’s largest players in the upstream (exploration and production) oilfield-services business. The Houston-based company opened a facility in Alice in 2004 with an initial $10 million capital investment and 38 new jobs. Kruckenberg estimates that Weatherford has nearly tripled its local investment since then.
Another expanding business is BJ Services Co., a provider of pressure pumping and other oilfield services. The company is moving forward with plans to add a new well-fracturing fleet for enhanced oil recovery. That expansion in Alice is expected to add 33 jobs and $2.7 million in wages to the local economy.
Dixie Iron Works Ltd., an Alice-based manufacturing company that supports the global oil and gas industry, also is feeling the effects of the energy boom. The company, which currently carries a payroll of nearly $10 million and employs 210 people worldwide, anticipates considerable growth in the coming months.
“We’re projecting a roughly $2 million expansion and the need for 50 more employees over the next year,” says Gerard Danos, president.
Gas and Coal
Yet another player, Cheniere Energy Inc., is expanding to the Coastal Bend by developing an onshore liquefied natural gas receiving terminal near Corpus Christi. The company began the permitting process in 2003 and finished preparations for the $650 million facility in March 2007, with construction slated to begin in 2008.
Meantime, construction began in spring 2007 on a $20 million upgrade at the Corpus Christi West Refinery of Flint Hills Resources LP. Other large refineries in the region include those of Citgo and Valero.
Other energy companies considering expansions to the region include Tondu Corp. of Houston, which recently evaluated the possibility of building an environmentally friendly coal-gasification plant in the area.
Company President Joe Tondu says the region’s infrastructure, labor pool, availability of land and business climate make it ideal for new development projects.
“When we first began researching this project, we went to the Coastal Bend area because of its very attractive business climate and exceptional resources,” Tondu says. “The local community is very receptive to industrial development.”
Story by Valerie Pascoe
Photo by Brian McCord
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