More than $1 billion in forgivable loans issued by the federal government’s Paycheck Protection Program for companies struggling with the coronavirus pandemic saved more than half of oil field jobs in Texas, an analysis of Small Business Administration figures shows.
The federal government issued 6,610 PPP loans to oil and natural gas companies, their service providers and related equipment manufacturers headquartered in Texas, a Houston Chronicle analysis shows.
Companies used their PPP loans to retain 93,117 jobs, or more than half of the 182,500 people employed by the industry in Texas, the analysis shows.
Shutdowns related to the coronavirus pandemic have created record-low oil and natural gas prices that have resulted in 36,200 Texans losing their jobs since the beginning of the year.
Federal officials used the loan amount of $150,000 as a dividing line when it came to the type of data released about the program.
Company names were not released for loans below $150,000 but federal officials provided the exact amount of each loan.
Federal officials released company names for loans between $150,000 and $10 million but listed the amounts borrowed in five different ranges, not exact amounts.
The 4,877 oil and natural gas industry companies that received loans below $150,000 in Texas borrowed a total of $188 million.
Based on the ranges given, the 1,733 companies that received loans above $150,000 borrowed somewhere between $1 billion and $2.3 billion.
San Antonio-based Lewis Energy and Houston-based Grizzly Natural Gas were among the exploration and production companies that received loans between $5 million and $10 million.
Enterprise Offshore Drilling, Evolution Well Services and Gyrodata were among the Houston oil field service companies that received loans between that amount.
The smallest loan in Texas, which was for $285, went to an oil field service company in College Station that was not identified.
Read id from Beaumont Enterprise – Photo as posted on Beaumont Enterprise (Jon Shapley, Staff Photographer – A drilling rig drills a well named “Queen” on Friday, Aug. 23, 2019, near Malaga, N.M. Mewbourne Oil Company named the well after the band.)