Why the US oil boom isn't helping regular people

Driving through the vast, dusty expanse of West Texas, the oil industry is on full display. The landscape is dotted with oil pumps that rhythmically rise and fall as they drag the black gold on which the regional economy is based from deep beneath the ground. 

All recent US governments have pushed for more drilling across the country, arguing that greater scale extraction equates to lower prices at the gas station, the creation of lots of good jobs and energy independence for the whole country. So Texas has drilled. 

Almost half the oil extracted by the US, which is the world's leading producer of the fossil fuel, comes from the southern state. In August 2024 alone, Texas churned out around 5 million barrels per day, meeting almost 5% of global demand.  

Where are all the jobs?

Of the promises made in connection with oil drilling, perhaps the most emotionally charged is employment. The industry is often portrayed as a lifeline for hardworking Americans, offering high wages and a path to prosperity. It was what motivated junior field engineer Hollis Eubanks to start working in oil.

"The big pull towards it was… it's money. It's a lot of money. I know guys who don't even have a high school diploma that make six figures a year," he said.

Eubanks lives across the country in Mississippi, but sometimes drives the 11 hours to Midland, West Texas, where he stays for a few weeks to see whether he'll be needed in case a drilling rig is stuck or for well maintenance. 

"You get used to making that money and it's very hard to turn away from it. It's hard to go back to a normal life just because it's one of those things that once it gets in your blood, it's kind of addictive," he told DW.

Even though, after nearly a decade in the industry, Eubanks has seen how volatile the work can be. Massive layoffs, often triggered by overproduction or market downturns, are common, and technological advancement allows companies to maintain high production levels with fewer workers.
In addition, Texan summers can easily reach 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit), or higher, while in other states, like North Dakota, oil workers are exposed to freezing cold and blizzards.

"These guys work in rain, snow, heat, cold. Everything. There's a lot of sacrifice with it," said Eubanks. "I think a lot of people are hesitant to do that."

That, combined with having to spend time away from home, is enough to push some out of the industry. For all the promises of jobs, oil and gas employment is the lowest it's been since the late 1990s, and Eubanks said he's witnessing more people choosing to leave the industry than he's ever seen.

"I've had a lot of people just go back home and work at whatever they can find," he said. "A lot of guys I know have left and operate cranes now for wind turbines and solar."

Eubanks is also considering switching. And with Texas now also producing the most renewable energy in the entire country, the sector offers a lot of employment opportunities. In fact, nationwide, renewable energy jobs are growing twice as fast as the rest of the energy sector and the US economy as a whole.

Increased drilling for energy independence

Another politically-charged claim of the oil industry is that increased drilling will mean the US is no longer at the mercy of foreign oil producers. But the reality is more nuanced. As is oil itself, which comes as light and heavier crude. 

Before the fracking boom, the US used to produce the heavy stuff, which its refineries were designed to process. But since the advent of widespread fracking, the US has been churning out light crude. This mismatch means America often sells its fracked oil overseas and imports other types of oil for domestic use.

Most US oil goes to China and Europe, while imports are largely from Canada. So though an increase in domestic production has reduced dependence on foreign oil to an extent, the US will not be able to wean itself of imports entirely.

What about the reduced cost promise?

On the surface, it makes sense that increased supply implies lower costs. But in practice, the oil market doesn't work that way.

"The more you export, the more you expose prices domestically to those international prices as well," said Baird Langenbrunner of Global Energy Monitor.

"Because there's not a lot of demand change and because oil is still very much desired by other countries, the cost of US energy is not changing much either."

Oil companies also have little incentive to flood the market with cheap oil since higher prices equate to greater profits. For regular Americans, this means that even when production surges, savings at the pump are often minimal at best.

Hidden costs for taxpayers

For regular citizens, there are also hidden costs that come in the form of unplugged or improperly plugged wells.

Once a company has finished drilling from a particular site, the well should be sealed to prevent methane — a potent greenhouse gas — from leaking into the atmosphere, and harmful chemicals from contaminating groundwater.

But that doesn't always happen. An hour outside Midland, oil well control specialist Hawk Dunlap and oil and gas lawyer Sarah Stogner live on a ranch where the oil industry has left its footprint. Two years ago, they started digging up old wells. 

"The first seven we dug up were leaking. They were like this," said Dunlap, pointing to a sawn-off pipe bubbling up live crude oil. "Since then we've dug up on this ranch 100 and I would say 95 of them are leaking."

Some unplugged wells have been found to emit as much methane as 4,000 cars in a single year. And the only way to stop it according to Stogner, is to "properly abandon" a defunct well. "Bury it and you pay for the funeral."

But she said that isn't happening. Officially, Texas lists 8,375 unplugged wells, with another 783,000 across the state believed to be inactive. Research suggests there could be as many as 2.6 million abandoned wells across the whole country, and plugging them could cost $280 billion. 

That's not including undocumented and improperly plugged wells, like the ones on the property where Dunlap and Stogner live. Though there are some state and federal cleanup programs, less than 1% of their funding has been secured, which Stogner said puts the burden on the wrong shoulders.

"We are subsidizing the cleanup," she said. "The money that the industry pays in taxes then gets turned around and used to clean up their mess."

Edited by: Tamsin Walker