The Texas oil economy remains strong despite concerns about a possible influx of oil from Venezuela, which could be years away.
Despite those expressing worry about what effect oil from that South American nation might have on oil and gas markets, there are several factors that diminish the likelihood of any effect on the Texas economy soon.
Years of socialist neglect and plunder of the oil economy have left the Venezuelan oil infrastructure in disrepair -- some of it in ruins -- and there will have to be repairs and upgrades before oil can be pumped for export, and if those repairs are done by American companies, there are going to have be surveys and contracts that are going to take time.
Pecos Country Energy Company CEO Rey Trevino says it will be at least two years before substantial exports will make it to the Gulf Coast to be refined into the products that make oil so important to society.
"Realistically we're looking at at least a 48 month turnaround from the time they begin the negotiations that are just starting now to when we can actually see significant being produced in Venezuela again," he says.
The biggest concern is that Venezuelan oil will flood world markets that are already saturated with oil and gas, knocking the price down below $50 a barrel, which starts to make oil production unprofitable and then producers shut in their wells -- which sounds like needless concern over supply-and-demand, because when less oil is produced it results in higher prices eventually anyway.
And then there could be new jobs based on possible expanded needs of refineries once the Venezuelan oil flows into the state.
"What a benefit this would be for Texas to have a lot more jobs at the refinery level with this oil coming in now," Mr. Trevino says.
With the state providing half of the 14 million barrels of oil produced each day in the United States, Americans experience energy security every day, he adds, even in the face of dictators like Venezuelan President Nocola Maduro.
"When the United States ran this military exercise for the horrific acts he had done against his citizens, the price of oil didn't even budge," such was the security of the US energy market.