Texas oil companies have hired about 30,000 workers in the past year, a sharp turnaround after laying off a third of the industry's statewide workforce during the oil bust that began in late 2014, according to East Texas news outlet Longview News-Journal.
The number of Texas oil and gas workers reached more than 222,000 in September, up 16 percent from about 192,000 a year earlier, according to economist Karr Ingham in the latest Texas Petro Index.
At the peak of the oil boom in 2014, Texas had more 295,000 oil company jobs. "Crude oil prices in Texas have been the essence of stability for more than a year," Ingham said in a statement.
"Demand is beginning to show signs of recovery, and foreign oil suppliers led by OPEC appear to be committed to maintaining announced production cuts."
Meanwhile, the Baker Hughes September count of active drilling rigs in Texas averaged 453 units, 85.7 percent more than in September 2016, when an average of 244 rigs were working.
The number of original drilling permits issued was 903, up 21 percent from 746 permits issued in September 2016.
