Economic powerhouse: Texas Tech study highlights strength of Texas pipelines

ODESSA, Texas (KOSA) - The Texas pipeline industry makes up about 40% of the state’s economy, according to a new Texas Tech study commissioned by the Texas Pipeline Association, released last week.

The study analyzed the current and future economic impact of the state’s pipelines and the industry’s revenue is expected to grow.

“Being in the Permian Basin, Ector and Midland Counties, that production is very important to the state of Texas, the neat thing about this study is that it solely deals with the midstream industry, the pipeline segment going from production to the end user,” said President of the Texas Pipeline Association Thure Cannon.

Cannon says the 2022 analysis found the industry generated more than $60.5 billion in economic output and nearly $3.6 billion in state and local government revenues, supporting 234,000 jobs.

“The good folks of Ector County are part of that because y’all have a lot of pipelines,” said Cannon.

Revenue benefits areas including the Permian Basin, as they found a typical Texas county can expect about $12,000 in property tax revenues per mile of pipeline.

“Being that Ector County has a lot of pipeline, that’s a lot of additional tax revenue for your schools and for your cities and local governments,” said Cannon.

Over the next 40 years, the pipeline industry is expected to generate $1.86 trillion in economic output.

“A statistic I’d like to bring up is that one moderate 20 inch pipeline displaced 1,650 truck trips per day off the roads and that’s just liquid pipelines and so that’s a significant impact especially in your area that sees a lot of truck traffic,” said Cannon.

Texas is expected to see substantial population growth, but Cannon says pipelines will serve the needs of the state and those individuals.

“That’s going to demand more energy use by our citizens and pipelines are a way to transport those hydrocarbons safely and efficiently to get to the things that produce our electricity, that produce our natural gas that produces gasoline,” said Cannon.

The study only considered pipelines within Texas. Cannon says pipelines are the safest, most economic and efficient way to transport hydrocarbons across the state.

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