The Houston region’s economic growth might not be as strong as reported and seems likely to slow next year as the petrochemical expansion winds down and oil prices remain modest, according to a new forecast from the University of Houston.
Energy companies spent billions of dollars to build and expand chemical plants along the Houston Ship Channel to process cheap natural gas from Texas shale fields into plastics and other petrochemicals in recent years, creating thousands of construction and manufacturing jobs, said the forecast’s author, the economist Bill Gilmer, director of the Institute for Regional Forecasting at the UH’s Bauer College of Business. With the sector largely built out, the Houston area’s growth next year will depend primarily on oil prices and national economy, both of which have shown signs of weakening.
Read it from HoustonChronicle.com – photo as posted on HC ( Bill Gilmer, director of the Institute for Regional Forecasting at the University of Houston’s Bauer College of Business, is forecasting slower growth for the Houston economy next year.: Brett Coomer, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer )
