In a statement sent to Rigzone recently, the Texas Oil & Gas Association (TXOGA) said Texas upstream oil and gas employment was “steady in 2025, despite market headwinds”.
TXOGA noted in the statement that, according to data released by the Texas Workforce Commission, Texas upstream oil and gas employment “remained essentially flat in 2025, even as producers continued to deliver strong output amid challenging market conditions”.
“Through November 2025, upstream employment totaled 201,200 jobs. While employment declined by 3,500 jobs in November compared with October, year to date employment was little changed, with a net gain of 300 direct upstream jobs,” it added.
“Employment was also modestly higher than a year earlier, rising by 100 jobs, or 0.1 percent,” it continued.
TXOGA noted in the statement that, “since the Covid-era low point in September 2020”, Texas upstream oil and natural gas employment has “increased by more than 44,000 jobs, a 28 percent gain”. The industry body outlined in the statement that this increase “underscor[es]… the industry’s continued role as a high-wage employer in the Texas economy”.
TXOGA President Todd Staples said in the statement that “reaching new production highs in multiple categories with employment essentially remaining steady is absolutely remarkable”.
“Navigating these volatile circumstances is a vivid reminder: growth is not guaranteed,” he added.
“This resilience demonstrated by increased energy output in 2025 depends on policies that support infrastructure development and market flexibility so the oil and natural gas industry can adapt to uncertainty and continue delivering the affordable, reliable energy that powers our modern way of life,” he continued.
TXOGA highlighted in its statement that upstream employment includes oil and natural gas extraction and related support activities, and excludes downstream sectors such as refining, petrochemicals, pipelines, and fuels distribution.
“The combined industry sectors moved up slightly on average from 492,019 in 2024 to 495,501 in 2025, reflecting just less than a one percent increase,” TXOGA noted in its statement.
The industry body went on to note that the oil and natural gas industry represents 31 percent of Texas private sector economy and added that it paid $74 million every day last year in state and local taxes and royalties “that fund our state highway construction, state savings account, universities, schools and first responders”.
TXOGA’s 2025 Energy and Economic Impact report, which was released in early January this year, showed that the Texas oil and natural gas industry employed 495,501 Texans in 2025.
The sector that employed the most workers last year was ‘support activities for oil and gas operations’, with 110,612 employees, followed by ‘gasoline stations with convenience stores’, with 81,268 employees, and ‘oil and gas pipeline and related structures construction’, with 50,667 employees, that report showed.
‘Crude petroleum extraction’ ranked as the oil and gas sector with the fourth most employees in 2025, with 49,187, and ‘oil and gas field machinery and equipment’ ranked fifth, with 29,280, the report revealed.
TXOGA stated in its report that “every direct job in the Texas oil and natural gas industry creates approximately two additional jobs”, outlining that “1.4 million total jobs [were] supported across the Texas economy” in 2025.
Texas oil and natural gas employers paid an average of $133,095 per job in 2025, according to TXOGA’s report, which noted that this was 68 percent more than the average paid by the rest of Texas’ private sector.
In a statement posted on its site on December 11, TXOGA outlined that September 2025 data released by the Texas Workforce Commission that day indicated that upstream oil and gas employment fell by 1,300 in September compared to August.
TXOGA highlighted in that statement that the Texas Workforce Commission had skipped data releases during the federal shutdown.
“Despite recent flat performance, growth for this calendar year through September remains a positive 3,900 upstream jobs,” TXOGA said in this statement.
“At 204,800 upstream jobs, compared to the same month in the prior year, September 2025 jobs were up by 1,900, or 0.9 percent,” it added.
In that statement, Staples said, “the recent downward cycle of the upstream job count confirms Texas is not immune to circumstances facing global oil markets”.
“As a major oil exporter for the United States, the Lone Star State must remain competitive on the worldwide stage. To remain the global leader, our industry depends on Texas legislative, regulatory, and business climate certainty that is favorable to investment and job creation even when supply and demand factors present uncertainty and instability,” he added.
TXOGA describes itself on its site as a “statewide trade association representing every facet of the Texas oil and gas industry, including small independents and major producers”.
“Collectively, the membership of TXOGA produces approximately 90 percent of Texas’ crude oil and natural gas and operates the vast majority of the state’s refineries, LNG export capacity and pipelines,” the site notes.
To contact the author, email andreas.exarheas@rigzone.com
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