Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Boom then Bust
The energy crisis in the 1970s brought Sultan-of-Bruneian wealth to Texas. The crisis
began when members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)
imposed a major reduction in oil sales to the USA and its allies to punish the country for its
pro-Israel policy. Texans found themselves the biggest domestic suppliers of oil, and
laughed all the way to the bank.
The oil shortage created a class of nouveaux riches, who played the part as if they had
been supplied by central casting. Newly wealthy Texans bought British titles outright from
debt-ridden members of the British aristocracy, creating legions of Lady Jane Billy Bobs
and Duke Zachary Jims. Ranches became practically passé in the move to bigger and better
spreads for oil barons, who also built skyscrapers, hotels, casinos and pleasure domes. The
original
Dallas
, a prime-time soap opera following the high jinks of that wacky, oil-rich
Ewing clan, premiered in 1978 and showed off Texas excess for all the world, which
lapped it up.
By the close of the energy crisis, the country had developed new sources of oil (mainly
in Texas and Central and South America, as well as in Alaska) and new types of energy
(nuclear, hydroelectric and others that had existed for years, but had yet to be put to large-
scale use).
When Iran ceased sales to the US in 1979, other oil producing nations flooded the mar-
ket. As OPEC argued, oil prices halved; by 1986, it was down to a paltry $10 a barrel, and
Texas was hurting. Oil extraction and exploration became unprofitable. Downtown Hous-
ton became little more than a ghost town, with unoccupied office towers filling the streets
in what looked like a post-apocalyptic nightmare.
During the 1990s the Texas economy diversified. Trade with Mexico began booming
with the 1994 passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Techno-
logy was another big story in the 1990s; Austin, with its highly educated populace, became
a powerhouse of high-tech companies and innovation.
Texas produces 30% of the oil in the US. Production has doubled since 2005, largely due to the develop-
ment of Eagle Ford shale.