Good morning, here's what the Oilman has for you today:

• Texas Adds More Oil Jobs

• How Biden Managed to Anger Both Big Oil and Big Green

• Upcoming Oil and Gas Events

• Tweet of the Day

Texas Adds More Oil Jobs

Oil production in the Permian may be falling, but the industry is hiring.

In August, oil and gas producers in Texas added more than 1,200 new jobs for a total of more than 208,000.

A good sign of things to come?

The number of oil jobs in Texas has been trending upward since 2021.

The only monthly dip in hires since then was this July when jobs slipped by about 1,000.

So, what we have, then, is one resilient industry.

Just think about the price rollercoaster since 2021.

Despite this, Texas Oil and Gas kept hiring.

Funnily enough, this hiring is set to slow down now.

Even though prices are higher.

Because, for once, higher prices do not automatically mean higher output.

Future marred in uncertainty

“I think employment was in many ways catching up to the rig count,” said Dallas Fed economist Kunal Patel last week.

“And that's why we're seeing employment growth slow to a crawl.”

That might be worrying, but hey, the rig count’s actually down, so at least jobs are still up.

The problem is nobody knows for how long they’ll be up or stable.

Or do they?

It seems oil drillers’ newfound sense of caution when making plans could work in favor of workers.

Because while there are no huge growth plans, companies are still hiring.

“They wouldn't be hiring them if they didn’t think they could deploy them,” one other Dallas Fed economist told the Chron.

Sounds like better job security than ever before.

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How Biden Managed to Anger Both Big Oil and Big Green

Getting two opposing groups angry about the same thing is quite a challenge, but President Biden did it.

His DoI’s decision to hold several offshore oil and gas lease sales in the coming five years angered both Big Oil and the environmentalist lobby.

You can’t make everyone happy, but you can make everyone unhappy

The DoI said last week it would hold three lease sales over the next five-year period.

Historically, the DoI has held between 11 and 41 lease sales per five-year period.

Which makes the planned three the fewest lease sales ever.

This should be good news for environmentalists, right?

Wrong.

They want zero lease sales, and nothing less would satisfy them.

Meanwhile, for the oil industry, three lease sales appear to be a joke and a bad one.

According to insiders, the stinginess with lease sales would lead to higher gas prices and job losses.

Could it have gone any other way?

Not really, even if the DoI really wanted to make the greens happy.

Because lease sales were put in as a condition for more offshore wind in the IRA.

In other words, if the DoI doesn’t hold lease sales for oil and gas, it can’t hold lease sales for offshore wind.

So, they tried to be smart and do away with as few oil lease sales as possible.

Just so they could approve all the offshore wind they want.

If that is, there are any takers for offshore wind, given the industry’s recent troubles.

In the end, the administration might end up with no oil and no wind.

Upcoming Oil & Gas Events

• October 1-5: 2023 SGA GMRC Gas Machinery Conference, Phoenix, AZ

• October 2-6: SPE Gulf Coast Section-Electric Submersible Pumps, The Woodlands, TX

• October 8-10: New Mexico Oil & Gas Association Annual Meeting, Santa Fe, NM

• October 12: Arkansas Independent Producers & Royalty Owners Association Annual Meeting, Little Rock, AR

• October 12: Indiana Oil & Gas Association Annual Meeting, New Harmony, IN

• October 12: Oklahoma Oil and Gas Expo, Bennet Event Center, Oklahoma City, OK

Around the Global Patch

🇺🇸 Bulgarian energy workers protest the green transition.
🇿🇦 South Africa grants TotalEnergies offshore drilling rights.
🇨🇳 World Bank trims China's 2024 growth forecast.

Tweet of the Day

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