Thirteen and half percent of Oklahoma’s statewide total earnings come from the oil and gas industy.
“To me, the most important part of the report is that the degree of growth and influence of the industry over the past 10 years is much larger than I think most people recognize here in the state,” Mark Snead, economist and author of the State Chamber report, told the Tulsa World.
The oil and natural gas industry accounts for 57,500, with average compensation per worker of $110,000 in 2012, the report stated.
The industry is hiring 5 percent of Oklahoma’s wage and salary workers and pays 7.2 percent of all employee compensation in the state.
“The oil and gas industry is the largest single source of tax revenue in the state, paying total direct state taxes of $1.96 billion in 2012, or more than 22 percent of all state taxes,” the report stated.
Oil and natural gas companies drilled 3,050 wells in the state in 2012.
State oil production has doubled since early 2010 to an annual rate of 120 million barrels.
Natural gas production is up almost 50 percent to 2.2 trillion cubic feet per year.
An average well in the state costs $3.85 million to drill. The Industry spent $11.7 billion for drilling in 2012.
Baker Hughes reports that 155 of the 172 rigs drilling for oil and natural gas in Oklahoma are involved in horizontal drilling.
