Oil boom causing housing problems in Snyder (West Texas)[Cline Shale]

SNYDER, Texas - Snyder is a small city of just 11,000 people, but the recent oil boom has put it on the map.

"You've gone from being the unknown sleepy little town in West Texas to we've got the bullseye on our back," said Bill Lavers, Executive Director of the Development Corporation of Snyder.

Snyder hasn't seen growth like this in decades. With the discovery of the Cline Shale oil area, people and businesses are flocking to the area.

"It appears that it's going to be one of the larger growth areas and booms that we've had in Snyder for a number of years," said Mayor Terry Martin.

That growth could bring big housing problems to the area, and there is evidence that those problems have already begun.

"There's not any homes in Snyder right now to speak of," said Tommy Abbott, a general contractor.

Abbott is about five months behind in business. He said December and January are usually his slowest months, but that is not the case this year.

"It's gonna take a lot of houses to handle the influx of people. It sure is," said Abbott.

One owner says last winter, her park was about 30 percent full. This year it is completely full...

It’s like this all over the Permian Basin, anybody with more than an acre is putting in a trailer park and there filling fast. In Midland they did a story about people living in storage unit’s. The old county roads that have been fine for years are getting torn up from all the truck traffic. These are the prices you pay. When I was a little kid we lived in an oil camp, dad was working for Mobil at the time and it was the only place to stay.

When I was born in 1955, my folks had been living in a Texaco company house on the lease for three years. It was a brand new house when they moved in so it was of modern construction. The company sold it in 1960 so we moved to town.

When Texaco moved us to Osage County OK, that operation still had some company houses on the lease but they’d been allowed to deteriorate except for the one the boss occupied. However, Phillips still had some oil camp houses in the northern part of the county. Lots of interesting local history there.

Quite probably. Didn’t think I would see it from 10 or more years ago... sustainability of the oil industry in the US. I can’t help but be a little bitter about it though after all the continuous layoffs we went through the last three decades, the living on edge and always laying contingencies against not having a job. So many jobs lost and the glee by the society that eats our product at our suffering.

I still struggle to see the economics of these shale wells. I suppose it is a numbers game though. Loose a little on each one and make it up in volume. Like Logan County, Oklahoma, you can’t drill a dry hole though most never pay out. It is a promoter’s paradise. The service company makes money, the royalty owners make money, the promoter makes money and the investor may not. I suppose it is all relative though. Some rate of return looks good compared to other investments and the flush production character of shale really helps the payout. The operator gets a promoted “free” well and harvests the decline curve with only operating expense for years. MOD cash is great when you don’t worry so much about the NPV or the downside.

The kids coming into the business the last few years have no idea how bad it can be. That is except for the children of we survivors. Last year the average compensation increase in the SPE salary survey was over 22%. The year before that about 11% I recall. For the benefit of the readers I will not report the mean compensation. Anadarko is continuing to add on to the building complex in the Woodlands as most companies in the business are adding on to theirs. It all becomes more expensive and more complex as well. You can shoot a cannon through most of the buildings after 1700 with no fear of injuring anyone. The oilfield has changed and become 9 to 5 for most. It becomes more and more that way as consolidation pushes all admin and engineering to the cities, principally Houston. Many will complete entire careers without ever seeing the field. Just another sterile office job.

Times are good. We always prayed for one more boom and that we would not screw it up. Now I hope not to bee to tired to continue and I hope to get out of this one on as high a peak as possible.

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