Permian Basin Gets Vote of Confidence With Infrastructure Plan
- Shale drillers, others to drop $844 million on roads, projects
- Investment viewed as ‘ensuring a thriving energy industry’
A water truck sits parked on a rural road in the Permian Basin outside Crane, Texas.
Photographer: Daniel Acker/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
The region at the heart of the once-booming U.S. shale industry is signaling confidence in a nascent recovery after the pandemic crushed demand and curtailed oil and gas drilling.
The Permian Basin, which straddles West Texas and New Mexico, has grown over the past decade to produce more oil than Iraq. But it has struggled to cope with some of the effects of its expansion over the past decade: roads crumbling from a heavy volume of 18-wheelers, a lack of doctors, skyrocketing house prices and rents, and a lack of qualified workers.