Barnett Shale Natural Gas Jobs
There are over 17,000 permitted natural gas wells in the Barnett Shale that produce over 3 billion cubic feet per day. The higher the price of natural gas, the more money there is to be made. The Barnett Shale covers 5,000 square miles under one of the largest metropolitan areas in the United States – Dallas/Fort Worth. With this type of potential, Texas’s Barnett Shale is one of the best places to job hunt in the world.
Natural gas is a reliable, clean, abundant form of natural energy that will help us reduce our dependence on foreign oil – an issue that is incredibly important to the United States. In an effort to be energy independent, the United States is exploring alternative methods of energy. Natural gas is one of the most viable options to help wean us off of oil. The Barnett Shale is such a huge producer of natural gas that it is also one of the best answers to help the current energy crunch.
Besides helping with the energy crisis, it is also bringing countless jobs to people who don’t mind getting their hands dirty, working long hours, and who have certain types of knowledge, skills, and abilities. The oil and gas industry has always been associated with money. It’s true. Anyone that works in this lucrative industry has the potential to earn a solid paycheck.
The Barnett Shale job boom has already begun, but it has yet to reach its full potential. Since the 1980s, people have had Barnett Shale jobs. But beginning in 2002, with the development of horizontal drilling, which allows the metropolitan and suburban areas of Dallas and Fort Worth to be drilled, the Barnett Shale job boom truly began. It seems there is an endless supply of jobs created by the Barnett Shale, both oilfield jobs and jobs in support of the industry.
Already more than 60,000 jobs have been created. Barnett Shale jobs account for nearly 6% of the entire local private employment sector and attributed over $8.2 billion to the local economy. Some estimate that over the next ten years, over 50,000 more jobs will be created in the oil and gas industry alone. But the Barnett Shale isn’t just creating oil and gas jobs. Whenever a major economic boom comes to an area, other jobs and business opportunities become available too. In an economic study, the biggest growth area will be retail jobs with 15,000 new jobs, then restaurant and bar workers with 8,000 new jobs, and 3,200 new jobs in the construction industry. All of these jobs will be created because of the Barnett Shale. The Barnett Shale may be causing one of the biggest economic booms in the country right now. The natural gas and oil extraction is creating a domino effect of jobs.