The amount of oil flowing out of the Permian Basin in West Texas is so great, the gross domestic product of Texas has loomed to $1.6 trillion. Job growth has expanded in Texas and if the state were an independent country, the economy would settle in around tenth place, according to the New Yorker magazine in a piece titled “The Dark Bounty of Texas Oil.”
As the New Yorker is want to do, it focuses on the economic gains, the history of oil development in the Permian and even the negative side-effects of the oil boom.
The article by reporter-at-large Lawrence Wright, noted that more than a hundred U.S. oil and gas producers declared bankruptcy between January 2015 and December 2016 and nearly half were in Texas.
Wright also pointed out that 5,000 energy-industry companies make their home in Houston.