Effects on Houston? Oil prices plummet below $40/barrel coinciding with global stock market “bloodbath” (Corpus Christi: wage, taxes)

[bu2]

Originally Posted by testmo

Stocks have mostly rebounded as it was traders over reacting. This is as of late this morning when I last checked

The China thing everyone knew was coming

Shell has done layoffs. Way better managed company than exxon. Id be surprised they have not done any restructuring

We are going to begin exporting to mexico

There is only so much a company can cut. A global company with any plans to stay global cant cut 20-25% and expect to rebound unless they were horribly glutinous (some were)

I know of several big projects taking bids for engineering firms. They've not been stopped and I dont expect them to be

I was around when oil was under 40. I dont remember the city panicking. Was I just not paying attention? Houston rode out the recession well despite it being low

The big bust in the 80s wasn't because oil dropped from $40 to $12/bbl. It was because they were betting on $100/bbl. Same thing now. They were planning on high and growing prices.

[haudi]

How the oil slump is affecting residential real estate in Houston, according to a Urban Land Institute panel discussion - Houston Business Journal

"Houston’s housing and apartment markets seem to be holding up despite the downturn in the energy industry, according to panelists at an Aug. 25 Urban Land Institute panel discussion titled “The Effect of the Energy Markets on Suburban Real Estate.”"

[texasroots77]

Haudi thank you for the positive post.

[marksmu]

Originally Posted by HookTheBrotherUp

If people thought the oil company layoffs were mostly done, they will need to think again. Oil companies will look to cut more jobs, unfortunately. Our company did not offer any interns jobs this year. Well, I'll say maybe one, but only to cover myself in case one was offered, but I am not aware of it. Things are going to get ugly if our 'friends' the Saudi's don't cut back on production. But then again, this is deliberate on their part to keep control of the crude market. The US should lift the bans of oil exports of this country, what a shame, we could be keeping the money local instead of sending to the middle east!

Lifting the ban is a good start, but if you really want to make the most of our own oil, then we need to get rid of the Government restrictions which effectively prevent US refiners from upgrading their facilities to process the light sweet Texas crude.

Too much of the oil drilled in Texas can not be processed in Texas because our refineries are not allowed to upgrade parts of their facilities without bringing the entire facility up to current oppressive emission regulations. It makes no sense to process more imported heavy crude while we export our light sweet crude....if the refineries could upgrade selectively, we would be in a much better place....emissions would be less than current, shipping costs would be significantly reduced, and everyone would win...except the liberal greenie weenies who want no fossil fuels.

They wont be happy until there are no refineries at all...but they live in a fantasy land where nobody has to work, and everyone can vacation to their hearts desire...so what can you do.

[LocalPlanner]

The most concerning thing about the news this week, to me, was the huge questions about the Chinese economy - that it might have slowed down considerably more than what had been expected. Since China consumes a huge amount of the world's oil and other raw materials, the oil and gas industry has been counting on it to soak up excess supply through growth in demand.

Now, if China is stagnating or at least growing much more slowly than previously thought (we all knew it would slow to some extent), I am concerned that the excess supply and therefore low prices may stick around much longer than we hoped. Also, I am concerned about exports from Houston (petrochemical and otherwise) - at least some of which I would think are bound for China's manufacturing industry.

I am much more concerned about this than swings in the stock markets here and abroad.

[jradMIT]

The layoffs really haven't been felt yet especially by the majors. It usually takes almost a year for the layoffs to really be felt. And I do think there could be more. There is a correction coming to the city, not a crash, but a correction the bull market and boom was very good. Will the city crap the bed, no, but seriously I think its a little foolish to think that a prolonged period of sub $40 dollar oil will not be a significant drag on the the city's economy. If the larger US economy goes through some weakness, that would only make things worse, the city differentiation will be put to the test. And there definately more well roundedness in the local economy now, but upstream oil still is large enough to make a difference, its not the only factor but its got to one of the largest if not the largest.

[jradMIT]

Originally Posted by haudi

How the oil slump is affecting residential real estate in Houston, according to a Urban Land Institute panel discussion - Houston Business Journal

"Houston’s housing and apartment markets seem to be holding up despite the downturn in the energy industry, according to panelists at an Aug. 25 Urban Land Institute panel discussion titled “The Effect of the Energy Markets on Suburban Real Estate.”"

I think its way too earlier for the effects. There is a lag, I would think Q2 or Q3 next year will be when the effects start. Especially if the price of crude stays.

[Oildog]

You don't hear the manufacturers of consumer goods, electricity or medical care complaining.
We will lose a few hipster businesses and some may work abroad for a spell, but Houston should be fine. Just not rapid growth of the past few years.

[Dopo]

Originally Posted by Oildog

There are a lot more massive swings these days as I think the electronic trading platforms move lots of shares in seconds. Then they react to all the other platforms actions and it starts again...

I laugh every time I remember that GWB was promoting the idea of letting people take money from their social security funds and gamble with it in the stock market

[Dopo]

Originally Posted by marksmu

Lifting the ban is a good start, but if you really want to make the most of our own oil, then we need to get rid of the Government restrictions which effectively prevent US refiners from upgrading their facilities to process the light sweet crude

BS, they are transnational and can build s refinery in any country they want (Bahamas, Mexico, Canada, etc)