The hottest oil play in the U.S.—-the Permian Basin in West Texas and southeast New Mexico is facing a shortage.
Oil and gas companies can’t find enough truck drivers who haul off the giant finds of oil. Some say another 3,000 drivers are needed to combine with the 3,000 already there according to a report by Bloomberg.
The shortage is felt the worst in the Delaware Basin, the western part of the Permian. That’s where shale companies are expanding their exploration as oil prices climb. But it’s also where the distance from producing wells to pipelines is greatest and most challenging because of the rough dirt roads.
The Permian covers an estimated 75,000-square miles and stretches into southeast New Mexico. Oil production in January could hit 2.79 million barrels a day, a 30 percent increase over a year ago.
As salesman Wade Black with Premier Truck Group in Amarillo put it, “We are able to sell the trucks to the cruder haulers. But there’s no one to drive them.”
The 3,000 figure comes from Willie Taylor CEO at Permian Basin Workforce Board in Midland, Texas.
At least 2,000 of the trucks servicing the Permian are in the Delaware Basin where each can haul 180 barrels of oil. Some of those truckers are paid about $100,000 a year. While it sounds like a lot, the salaries are still an estimated 10 to 20 percent what the drivers were paid in 2014 and 2015.