The Texas Independent Producers & Royalty Owners Association’s (TIPRO) latest State of Energy report, which was released this week, stated that the U.S. oil and gas industry employed 2,055,516 professionals in 2024.
That figure represented a net increase of 10,694 direct jobs compared to 2023, subject to revisions, the report noted. When incorporating direct, indirect, and induced multipliers for employment at the national level, the industry supported 22,625,187 million jobs last year, the report said.
There were 384,187 direct U.S. upstream sector jobs in 2024, according to the report, which highlighted that this was a net increase of 1,259 jobs compared to 2023.
The largest sector by employment in the U.S. oil and gas industry was Gasoline Stations with Convenience Stores with 886,041 workers in 2024, the report noted. This was followed by Support Activities for Oil and Gas Operations, with 218,029 workers, Oil and Gas Pipeline and Related Structures Construction, with 142,722 workers, and Natural Gas Distribution, with 116,473 workers, the report outlined.
TIPRO’s report stated that the largest increase in jobs in 2024 occurred in Natural Gas Extraction, “with a net increase of 5,830 compared to 2023”. The report outlined that this was followed by Oil and Gas Pipeline and Related Structures Construction, with an increase of 5,167, Gasoline Stations with Convenience Stores, with an increase of 3,800, and Pipeline Transportation of Natural Gas, with an increase of 2,449.
According to TIPRO’s report, the oil and gas industry paid a national average wage of $81,808 last year. Workers in Crude Oil Extraction earned the highest annual average wage of all oil and gas industry sectors at $227,080, the report noted. This was followed by Natural Gas Extraction, with an annual average of $176,800, and Petroleum Refineries, with an annual average of $172,191, the report outlined.
In 2024, U.S. crude production averaged 13.2 million barrels per day, the report stated, adding that this was “a U.S. and global production record”. Natural gas production averaged a record 113 billion cubic feet of gas per day last year, the report noted.
Texas Specifics
TIPRO’s report said that Texas led the nation in oil and gas jobs with 480,460 people employed in this industry.
The report noted that 23 percent of all oil and gas jobs nationwide were located in Texas last year, and stated that, when incorporating direct, indirect, and induced multipliers for oil and gas employment, the industry supported a total of 2,773,201 jobs in Texas in 2024.
Texas was the leading state by employment in 16 out of the 19 sectors used to define the oil and natural gas industry in 2024, according to the report, which said oil and gas jobs in Texas paid an annual average wage of $128,876. That was 74 percent more than all average private sector jobs in the state, the report highlighted.
TIPRO’s latest report also noted that Texas had the highest number of oil and gas businesses in the nation last year with 23,549.
It added that oil production in Texas reached a new record of over two billion barrels in 2024 and said the state led the country in natural gas production with a record 12.7 trillion cubic feet produced last year.
Unique Challenges
In a statement sent to Rigzone by the TIPRO team this week, T. Grant Johnson, chairman of TIPRO and president of Lone Star Production Company, said, “despite facing a number of unique challenges, the U.S. oil and gas industry continued to offer significant economic support in 2024, while providing reliable and affordable energy to meet growing domestic and global demand”.
“TIPRO looks forward to working with policymakers and officials at the state and federal level to unleash our nation’s full energy potential, with Texas continuing to lead the way,” he added.
Also in that statement, TIPRO President Ed Longanecker said, “in 2024, increases in natural gas production were essential to fulfilling rising energy demand within the U.S.”.
“Thanks to record production, driven primarily by the Permian’s improved well-productivity, domestic demand was met, and natural gas continued to supply affordable and reliable power,” he added.
“We applaud the Texas oil and natural gas industry and the policymakers that understand its importance,” Longanecker went on to state.
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