How is the Odessa Midland Economy (Amarillo: hotels, homes, unemployment)

[whitegiant]

With oil not doing as great as it was are odessa and midland still doing good or are companies starting to lay off and cut back alot. Are homes still selling a the high prices they once where. And do you guys think that odessa and midland missed their big chance to grow at enormous rates they say that oil will never go back to that expensive for a long time. I think that odessa and midland should have done more in there power to grow and get as many people and things as possible when the boom was going on and when they had the chance.

[texdav]

Oil has slowed ;of course. Much of the oil industry ;drilling is basically like construction work it comes and goes ;so does the workers.Drilling is boom to bust many times;always has been since texas oil peaked in the 70's.

[Lucidus]

Originally Posted by whitegiant

With oil not doing as great as it was are odessa and midland still doing good or are companies starting to lay off and cut back alot. Are homes still selling a the high prices they once where. And do you guys think that odessa and midland missed their big chance to grow at enormous rates they say that oil will never go back to that expensive for a long time. I think that odessa and midland should have done more in there power to grow and get as many people and things as possible when the boom was going on and when they had the chance.

Things have slowed down and there have been layoffs, but its not a bust like the previous ones, at least not yet.

I think Midland/Odessa has handled the situation pretty well actually. When oil prices were at historic highs people did not go crazy the way some did in previous booms. There was no silliness this time like the 80's when there plans to build two 40 story office towers in Midland. Everyone knew that what goes up must come down and planned much better and avoided overbuilding. As a result, even now there is still some pent up demand for new construction.

I think if we had done what you suggested and tried to grow as much as possible when oil prices were extremely high the picture would be pretty ugly now. For now things are still pretty good. The latest unemployment figures still put Midland with the lowest unemployment in Texas, with Amarillo second and Odessa third. Prices are still hovering around $40ish a barrel. My personal belief is that anything above $30 should be ok.

I tend to believe that prices will drop dramatically to about $5 to $1o dollars a barrel before they start up again, so things will be really bad in M/O, but when that happens things are going to bad everywhere so at least we have some company.

[tgannaway89]

There have been several layoffs, not all directly in the oil field. Flint Hills is closing a plant in Odessa in a few months that will leave hundreds jobless. There are still quiet a few hotels and retail developments under construction in both cities.