Work in the oil and gas industry
It is a legitimate concern according to Oil and Gas expert Bernard Weinstein at the Southern Methodist University Cox School of Business Maguire Energy Institute.
“There are hundreds of thousands of people in DFW who work in the oil and gas industry, so sure, we need to be concerned about what’s happening to oil prices,” he said.
Weinstein said oil and gas now accounts for 8 percent of the U.S. economy compared with just 2 percent 10 years ago.
“So what happens in the oil and gas sector has a much bigger impact on our national economic wellbeing than it did in the past,” he said.
Weinstein said North America now leads the world in oil and gas production, but supply is outpacing demand with economies overseas slowing down, which explains the falling prices.
Middle Eastern nations in the Organization of Petroleum Export Countries (OPEC) are smaller players today, Weinstein said.
“OPEC has essentially become irrelevant. We are the important producer today,” he said.