By Betsy Blaney and Alicia A. Caldwell, The Associated Press
KERMIT, Texas — Around the country, Americans are tightening their belts, scrapping vacation plans, eating more dinners at home, getting rid of their SUVs and watching "for sale" signs linger on front lawns. But in oil-and-gas-rich West Texas, folks are living large — again.
Most homes sell quickly and command premium prices. Hotel rooms are in scant supply. Gas guzzlers are rolling off auto dealers' lots. Jobs are plentiful in the oil and gas fields and the businesses that serve them.
Drillers and energy companies are reaping a bonanza from the run-up in oil that pushed the price past $140 a barrel this summer. This oil town of just over 5,100 people about 45 miles west of Odessa is awash in prosperity, and it's the same story across the rest of the Permian Basin, where about 20% of U.S. oil is produced.
So far, the boom has brought in hundreds of millions dollars to the region and more than 26,000 new jobs. In Midland and Odessa, the backbone of the region, the unemployment rates are the lowest in Texas, at just over 3.1% and 3.7% for July. That compares with 4.7% statewide and a U.S. average of 5.7%. "Help wanted" signs hang outside many restaurants, which frequently must turn away diners or close off sections when the crush of customers overwhelms the staff.
"There's just not enough people to work in the restaurants. The pay is so much better" in the oil fields, said Roy Gillean, owner of the Barn Door Steakhouse in Odessa and head of the Permian Basin chapter of the Texas Restaurant Association.
While plummeting home prices and record-high foreclosures have hit neighborhoods across the USA, this region is seeing the opposite. In Midland County, homes typically stay on the market for only a month, and prices are up 16.5% from last year.
Jed Heard, owner of a Cadillac dealership in Midland, said it's not unusual for someone to plunk down $65,000 in cash for a sport-utility vehicle.
The dealership said it set a sales record last year, and July's numbers are 18% ahead of July 2007.
Boom times are not new here. Neither are busts, and many people in and out of the oil business — home builders and developers among them — know the good times may not last.
Vida Simpson, a 59-year-old Kermit-area native, recalled earlier oil heydays, when the town had several grocery stores, two movie theaters and a slew of other shops. But the mother of two grown children also remembered the bust and the demise of her family furniture store. And she recalled the unfortunate young people who took oil-field jobs instead of going to college.
"I'm just fearful that they don't get caught up on a trap, like they did before," Simpson said.
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