Job stats, for now, offer hope in Big Oil
Drilling activity recovery seen as 23,000 jobs added in March
Oil-field services companies added 23,000 jobs in March as drilling activity recovers from the pandemic-driven oil bust.
The jobs report from the Energy Workforce & Technology Council, however, is based on preliminary data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and might change in routine revisions. Revised figures released recently show the sector lost 7,700 jobs in February, about 2,300 fewer than the 10,000 reported last month. Revised data for January increased job losses by eightfold to about 1,300 compared with the 166 reported last month.
Most of the job losses took place in Texas and Louisiana, which lead the nation in oil and gas production, according to the monthly report compiled by the council.
The Houston-based trade group represents more than 600 member companies that drill and complete wells and manufacture equipment for the oil and gas industry.
“The sector has been on a roller coaster the past year with a precipitous drop in jobs due to the pandemic, modest gains in the fourth quarter of 2020, and more cuts in December, January and February,” the council said in its report.
The oil-field services sector has been among the industry’s hardest hit during the pandemic, which slashed demand for oil and products such as gasoline and jet fuel. Many exploration and production companies, which hire oil-field services firms, stopped drilling new wells and halted production at existing wells for several months last year.
The sector lost more than 102,000 jobs, including 39,000 in Texas, during the pandemic. Since late last year, the industry has gained back more than 23,000 jobs, or about 3.8 percent of the sector’s employment, the council said.
The sector employed 628,362 workers in March, 9 percent less than the 691,866 it had during the same month in 2020. The jobs lost in 2020 represent annual wages of about $15 billion, and the 23,000 jobs gained last month represent annual wages of about $2.6 billion, the trade group said.
As crude prices climbed to about $40 a barrel this summer and above $60 a barrel last month, most oil and gas companies restarted production on existing wells and are completing wells drilled before the pandemic. Oil-field services hiring is ramping up as production rebounds, although the recovery remains threatened by the ongoing pandemic.
Crude settled 68 cents higher on Tuesday at $59.33, about $6 off this year’s peak reached last month.