奇速英语

The sharp drop in world oil prices has led oil companies in the United States to dismiss thousands of workers. Some companies have also suspended new oil drilling and exploration projects. The drop in oil prices has also affected small service companies and even stores that do business with oil companies in big producer states like Texas. But the drop in oil prices has not been bad for everyone.

Oil platform workers are often called roughnecks. In Texas, many roughnecks have lost their jobs because of the drop in oil prices. The effect of falling prices has been worse in states like Alaska and North Dakota. That is because production costs are higher there than they are in the Eagle Ford area of south-central Texas.

Adam Perdue is an economist at the University of Houston’s Institute for Regional Forecasting. He has been studying the effect of falling oil prices in Texas. He says oil company exploration and production budgets are being cut between 10 and 50 percent, with most of them being cut by a third. He thinks the lower spending will affect the local economy.

The economic slowdown will affect companies that make pipes and other equipment for oil exploration and production. It will also have an effect on trucking companies that supply sand and chemicals, and other small businesses that serve the energy industry.

But low oil prices are good for chemical companies. They use hydrocarbons found in oil to make fertilizer, plastic and other products. Adam Perdue says a new chemical plant project near Houston will provide jobs for many skilled workers.

“A lot of these roughnecks that are going to lose their jobs out there in the field are going to be able to come home and get a welding job or a construction job,” he says. But some oil industry experts believe prices will rise again in about six months when the oversupply of oil is reduced. 

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