By Beth Foley The Palestine Herald
Published: 11-18-08
PALESTINE — The Texas oil and gas industry remains strong despite the weakened overall economy state Railroad Commissioner Elizabeth Ames Jones told a small audience Friday at the Palestine Civic Center.
Speaking before a crowd of industry representatives and the public at the East Texas Energy Expo and Job Fair Jones said that the state’s oil and gas industry has weathered the storm thus far but warned that state officials and industry leaders must work to educate incoming lawmakers in Washington about its importance.
“I’m more committed than ever that this is the right way for America ” Jones said. “ Texas has an energy plan and we don’t need to analyze or paralyze. It works and it’s my hope that Washington will see fit to implement such a plan that we have seen in Texas works.
“I think that we are going to see this industry under attack with the new administration coming in that people have no clue how this industry operates and I hope that the president will have better sense than many of the surrogates who today as I speak are looking around and finding ways to put more roadblocks in the way of domestic operations and safe and responsible domestic drilling.”
The public though has voiced its support for increasing domestic energy production since the price of gas hit $4 a gallon this summer she said.
“I believe the public is on the side of this industry” Jones said. “They’re crying out to ‘drill baby drill.’ So now they have a chorus and I’m not a soloist anymore and that’s the good thing about what’s happened in the last several years. People have begun to get the picture about energy security in America .”
Oil and gas service company representatives answered questions and handed out company and job information during the first day of the East Texas Energy Expo and Job Fair Friday in the Palestine Civic Center ’s multipurpose room and in the parking lot.
With the expo running from 1 to 5 p.m. Friday crowds were light but several vendors expressed optimism that more people will come out today. The energy expo and job fair sponsored by the Palestine Area Chamber of Commerce run from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. today.
“I think it’s going really well” said Candy Wells of Pumping Services Inc. of Palestine and a Chamber member. “It’s been pretty steady most of the afternoon. We’re looking forward to tomorrow.
“We’ve given away several applications. That’s a good thing.”
Ron Young trucking supervisor for Pinnergy Ltd. in Palestine said he thought the weekend would bring out people who were working during Friday’s session.
“I believe we’ll have a good turnout” Young said. “We haven’t had a lot of customers come through today. I feel like they’re all working. They’ll be here tomorrow (Saturday).”
Likewise WellFlow representative Andrew Baxter said he expected things to pick up today and at future expos as word spreads. “It’s been pretty good” Baxter said. “I wish there were a little more customers but for the first one you’ve got to start somewhere.”
Despite the overall downturn in the U.S. economy the Texas oil and gas industry still looks good Young said.
“The rig count’s down a little bit but it’s that time of year” he said noting that companies are nearing the end of their budgets for the year. “Everybody’s in a wait-and-see mode now. Overall it’s still real good and real busy.”
Jeff Forrest vice president of sales for LIDE Industries in Mexia which builds storage tanks said his company’s outlook was good due to its wide customer base.
“We sell a lot of tanks out here in East Texas to a lot of people here” Forrest said. “As of now it’s good. We’ve diversified. If oil and gas slows usually other fuels do better so we sell tanks to them.”
Marathon Oil human resources consultant Ashley Treybig said that oil and gas have done well in East Texas and Louisiana for her company.
“Without a doubt” Treybig said. “East Texas and Louisiana are our gas operations. We’re going full speed ahead.”
