Texas oil fields rebound from lull, but jobs are left behind

Midland, United States

IN the land where oil jobs were once a guaranteed road to security for blue-collar workers, Eustasio Velazquez's career has been upended by technology.

For 10 years, he laid cables for service companies doing seismic testing in the search for the next big gusher. Then, powerful computer hardware and software replaced cables with wireless data collection, and he lost his job.

He found new work connecting pipes on rigs, but lost that job, too, when plunging oil prices in 2015 forced the driller he worked for to replace rig hands with cheaper, more reliable automated tools.

"I don't see a future," Mr Velazquez, 44, said on a recent afternoon as he stooped ove…