01-31-09: Shadorne
Ah yes - Houston - Oil Capital of the World. Houston is going to hurt some. COP already announced layoffs - it is just the starting. Rig count is in freefall. '86 all over again. Only positive is a really cold winter so far....
Shadorne (System | Reviews | Threads | Answers | This Thread)
Don't know how I missed this 2 yrs ago, and didn't comment, but better late than never, and having the advantage of history.
1) no Houston actually never did hurt, there never any layoffs, you were way off base there, and at the time you wrote that, not only were there not dropping rig counts, but there were more rigs running than at any time since the latter half of the 20th Century (modern efficient rigs).
2) Houston is the Energy capital of the world, and also the largest medical center in the world.
3) we never had a big real estate bubble, so it didn't burst. It's just plain cheap to live in Houston.
4) more companies continue to move to Houston due to affordablity and very favorable gov't incentives. Plus did I mention it's cheap to live there?
5) city continues to grow both high paying white collar, and some of the few high paying blue collar jobs. The huge natural gas finds in the Shale regions of the country has led to a resurgence, and sustainable one, of petrochemical companies. Many shuttered plants have been reopened.
6) The port of Houston, largest in US in most categories is busier than ever, and with with the re-growth of the petrochemicals industry is now exporting many products that were once imported.
Too bad I am moving to OKC, I will miss Houston. It's too hot, terrible limited audio community options compared to other big cities, very ugly freeways with all the crap along the feeder roads but:
Great restaurants, great business prospects, excellent theaters and museums (those big energy companies like the arts), best medical care in the world (thanks guys) and super nice people from literally every corner of the world. I'm going to miss the diversity.
