$60 oil needs to stick around to drive job growth

Higher oil prices aren’t an instant fix for Houston’s economy.

U.S. crude prices will have to stay above $60 a barrel for several quarters to stimulate job growth in Houston’s oil production industry, the Greater Houston Partnership said this week.

The Greater Houston Partnership expects Houston to add 45,500 jobs in 2018, but it projects that employment levels will stay flat among oil producers, based on recent oil price forecasts by the Energy Information Administration.

The agency said this week that it expects crude prices to average $54.01 a barrel in the first quarter, up from its previous forecast of $51.79 a barrel. In the fourth quarter, it said, prices could average $57.31 a barrel, up from its last projection of $54.95 a barrel.

U.S. crude prices settled up 23 cents at $63.80 a barrel on Thursday.

The nation’s crude stockpiles fell by almost 5 million barrels last week, continuing a 10-month-long decline of over 100 million barrels. The EIA expects global oil demand to rise by 1.6 million barrels a day this year. And oil supply disruptions and declines in several countries including Venezuela and Libya have propped up prices.

The Greater Houston Partnership said it believed Houston this year will add jobs in the oil field services sector, manufacturing, the retail sector, finance, real estate, education, and health care, among other sectors.