Most recent report shows thousands of jobs created by Eagle Ford Shale. Will it be boom and bust?

Yessir, way back in 08, things was a booming round this here place

I wonder how many Laredoans have landed jobs stemming directly from the Eagle Ford shale project. From the looks of it, this might just be the tip of the iceberg. Will towns like Carrizo Springs and Encinal become boom towns? Will they be reminiscent of  those Old West towns that sprang up practically overnight only to go bust a few yeras later? Well pardner,  I reckon the area just north of Laredo is fixin to grow a spell. Who knows, maybe the sheriffs of these nearby towns will become as famous as Wyatt Earp. Wyatt who?

From the Houston Chronicle

No one's calling it another Spindletop yet, but just wait. Development of the Eagle Ford shale, a vast oil and gas region, shows promise of being the most important economic generator South Texas has ever seen, a recently released study indicates.

Since the first well was drilled in the Eagle Ford in 2008 until 2010, oil and gas drilling has directly supported about 6,800 full-time jobs in the region, paid $311 million in salaries and benefits to workers and generated almost $2.1 billion in total economic output. When other spinoff jobs were included in the tally — everything from oil field support to the waiters serving drillers' food - the numbers jumped to about 12,600 jobs, $512 million in salaries and $2.9 billion in economic output.

Good paying work

Drilling jobs account for about half of the jobs so far in the Eagle Ford, and the jobs pay well, starting from about $12 to $17 an hour for roustabouts (an entry-level drilling job) and $13 to $18 an hour for truck drivers. The Eagle Ford accounts for about 6 percent of the gross regional product for the 24-county area in the study.

The numbers come from a study by the Center for Community and Business Research at the University of Texas at San Antonio, funded by America's National Gas Alliance, which paid about $33,000. Members of the gas alliance met with the Express-News editorial board on Wednesday. The Eagle Ford "is a very early play, so these are very conservative estimates, said Dominique Halaby, the center's director.

The Eagle Ford shale underlies 24 Texas counties that stretch from a region northeast of San Antonio to Laredo and Webb County.