would like to hear your opinion, if you have one. thanks for these posts.
I think the chart in post #2 shows the facts well. While oil/gas production has been a strong job growth for Texas, we have had far more growth in other areas.
The oil/gas does have a lot of supporting work, and the slow down in oil/gas will have less demand on those industries. But Texas has very significant Refining and Petrochemical industries that do well in times of low oil prices and other feedstocks. There are a lot of ethane crackers for example that are in a rush to get completed to take advantage of the low price of ethane.