Direct oil and natural gas employment in the Permian basin totaled 87,603 people in 2019, according to a new report from TIPRO.

Direct oil and natural gas employment in the Permian basin totaled 87,603 people in 2019, according to a new report from the Texas Independent Producers and Royalty Owners Association (TIPRO).

The report, which outlined that this figure represented an increase of nearly 43,000 jobs since 2009, highlighted that the largest Permian basin counties by oil and natural gas employment in 2019 included Midland (33,328), Ector (14,791), Lea (8,356), Eddy (7,766) and Hockley (2,765).

The largest increase in oil and gas employment between 2009-2019 occurred in Midland County (20,802), followed by Ector (7,693), Eddy (4,985), Lea (2,407) and Hockley (1,513), according to the report.

TIPRO’s report said the upstream sector remained the top employer for oil and gas in the Permian basin last year. Support activities for oil and gas operations supported 54,507 positions, crude petroleum and natural gas extraction supported another 16,572 jobs and drilling oil and gas wells supported 6,554 jobs, according to the report.

Fifty-four percent of Permian basin oil and gas workers in 2019 were between the ages of 25 and 44 and approximately 37 percent were 45 years or older, the report showed. In 2019, Permian companies employed more than 12,560 women and 48 percent of all oil and gas jobs were held by Hispanic or Latino workers, according to the report.

In September last year, TIPRO forecasted that the Permian basin oil and gas industry will support 93,201 jobs in 2020.

The total number of oil and natural gas businesses in the Permian basin exceeded 3,350 in 2019, with the highest number of oil and gas businesses located in Midland County (1,012), TIPRO’s latest report outlined.

Total oil production in the Permian basin exceeded 1.5 billion barrels of oil in 2019 and oil production increased by 1.2 billion barrels in the region between 2009-2019, the report noted.

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