Texas oil workers face axe following fall in prices

Baytown, Texas

PLUNGING energy prices robbed the Texas economy of an estimated 60,000 jobs last year, as oil and gas companies put the brakes on production and slashed investment, throwing engineers and geologists out of work.

But the forest of construction cranes sprouting around this petrochemical hub tell the flip side of the story, as some of the same forces that drove down those prices sparked tens of billions of dollars in investment in new processing plants to take advantage of cheap and plentiful supplies of oil and gas.