Richmond Economic Development Corporation | Richmond, TX- Official Website

Energy Industry

For this industry, we are focused on sectors that support oil and gas, such as equipment repair and leasing, and oil and gas products wholesalers.

Oil and gas industries pay high wages – with benefits, averaging $135,900 per year, contribute handsomely to the region’s gross regional product (GRP), and offer career pathways for workers with a wide variety of education and skills. Oil and gas industries generally require many more middle-skill jobs than most other industries. These middle-skill jobs are in high demand nationwide, and are a particular strength of the Richmond economy. Eleven industry sectors make up the oil and gas cluster in Richmond. See Table 2.3 below for the full list of industry sectors and an overview for each of the individual industry sectors that comprise the oil and gas cluster in Richmond.

Table 2.3B - Included are historic, current, and projected employment; historic and projected average annual percent growth (or decline); historic and current employment concentration (LQ); average earnings; gross regional product (GRP); and jobs multipliers.
The table is sorted largest to smallest by 2017 sector contribution to GRP.

While the oil and gas cluster had only 208 jobs in 2017 (and a decline from 2012), this is an unusual cluster for a small regional economy. And in Richmond, the oil and gas cluster has an LQ of 3.4 – which is high for this cluster. This means that overall employment for this cluster is 3.4 times more concentrated in Richmond than would be expected based on national employment averages
Total sales for all companies in this cluster were $375.5 million (7.3% of total regional sales) and the cluster contributed $255.3 million to the region’s gross regional product (10.2% of total GRP) in 2017.

Labor Market Gap Analysis
Table 2.4, on the next page, lists the top 15 occupations in oil and gas. These occupations account for 72% of all cluster employment. The table provides the number of people employed by occupation in the cluster, and the number of people employed in that occupation in all industries in the region. This indicates the level of competition employers may face from industries outside the cluster when hiring for key occupations.
As shown in Table 2.5, nearly half of the top 15 occupations—in engineering or management—typically require a bachelor’s degree. The entry-level requirement for the other positions is typically a high school diploma or equivalent. What makes the lower-level occupations so valuable, however, is the on-the-job training experience provided. These occupations are considered to be middle-skill occupations. People who have the necessary experience and qualifications for middle-skill occupations are in the greatest demand across the nation. Richmond has a surplus of these people, as demonstrated by the net commuting data in Table 2.4 Below.

Key Products and Services
Table 2.8, right, shows greater detail of major products or services purchased by Richmond oil and gas companies. These are industry sectors that are key suppliers to the oil and gas industry. More importantly, these are industry sectors that are already established in the Richmond economy, have strong growth, or attraction potential. The oil and gas cluster purchases goods and services such as business services and construction services, primarily from within the area – meaning that many businesses are highly dependent on this cluster.

Summary
The oil and gas industry brings significant income into the Richmond economy. Further, this cluster is highly concentrated and specialized in Richmond – meaning that this Richmond industry is highly competitive. Other Richmond businesses (outside of oil and gas) are heavily dependent on the oil and gas cluster. In particular, two other strong clusters in Richmond, professional and technical services and specialty trade contractors, are currently supplying 31% and 69% of the oil and gas industry’s need for these services.

Download the PDF to read the entire report on the Oil and Gas Industry.

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