Despite oil bust, Texas prepares more students for oil jobs

HOUSTON -- The oil industry is mired in its latest bust, with thousands of jobs evaporating like flares flaming out over natural gas wells. But in Texas, education officials are preparing more young people for the oil patch, showing the state's unshakeable commitment to the energy sector despite the employment uncertainties.

The Houston school district is planning to expand its Energy Institute High School to around 1,000 students by 2017 and inaugurate a new 110,000 square-foot, $37 million facility. The three-year-old institute is the nation's only high school fully specializing in oil and energy careers.

In the oil-rich Permian Basin, two Midland high schools have begun "petroleum academies." And state officials have approved vocational classes in oil production, authorizing all schools districts across Texas to teach them.

"We are in this downturn, but as a society, we have a responsibility to not let that affect our workforce and to keep ahead of the game," Energy Institute principal Lori Lambropoulos said.

Other oil and gas states, including North Dakota, Louisiana and Wyoming, offer technical training for high school students interested in the oil industry, but Texas' program is more extensive, despite questions about whether there will be jobs in the near future for its graduates.

Layoffs began last year when crude prices plummeted from over $100 a barrel to about $45 now. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, oil and gas extraction jobs fell from 201,500 nationwide in October 2014 to about 187,000 this past October.

But the booms provide rich paydays when they happen. And many in Texas insist things will rebound, although no one knows when. It took nearly two decades for oil prices to recover from the bust in the 1980s.