Population in NM’s oil country declines

SANTA FE — The areas of New Mexico that were once the fastest growing were the fastest shrinking last year, according to U.S. Census Bureau population estimates.

The state’s population stayed mostly flat last year with growth of less than 1 percent, but the counties in southeast New Mexico experienced declines, The Santa Fe New Mexican reported Wednesday.

The population declines around the Permian Basin’s oil fields in the southeast could indicate a trend in the energy industry of companies switching to new technologies that require fewer employees, officials said.

“Employment in oil and gas has not come back as fast as prices have,” said Jim Peach, an economist at New Mexico State University. “Part of that is the tremendous technological change that has occurred in drilling.”

Lea County had the largest population decline in the state, dropping by 1.6 percent to nearly 69,000 people last year. In neighboring Eddy County, the population fell by less than 1 percent to nearly 57,000 people.

Lea and Eddy counties are in the heart of the oil and gas industry in the southeastern part of the state. The area has largely rebounded as the state reached record oil production last year.

When prices dropped in 2016, oil companies in the region sought to make their operations more efficient. Companies began automating more practices, reducing the number of employees needed for work in the field.

But employment in the industry is increasing in the state as prices began to rise during the latest boom.