Texas | May 4, 2020

Odessa Economic Index Posts Third Monthly Drop

The Odessa Economic Index fell for the third straight month in January, and the sixth of the past seven months after peaking last June, and fell below its year-ago level for the first time in the current cycle of contraction. West Texas economist Karr Ingham noted that January’s OEI of 266.6 was down 0.5% year-over-year.

The contraction in Odessa’s economy in the latter half of 2019 and moving into 2020 was the result of a slowdown in the regional oil and gas economy. It doesn’t reflect the more recent COVID-19 related events that led to a partial shut-down of the economy and sent oil prices crashing.

However, the pandemic-related events suggest that “the downward slide in the Odessa general economy and the Permian Basin regional oil and gas economy has now worsened dramatically,” wrote Ingham. Those effects will show up in the April numbers, and perhaps even those for March.

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About Paul Bubny

Paul Bubny serves as Senior Content Director for Connect Commercial Real Estate, a role to which he brings 13-plus years’ experience covering the commercial real estate industry and 30-plus years in business-to-business journalism. In this capacity, he oversees daily operations while also reporting on both local/regional markets and national trends, covering individual transactions across all property types, as well as delving into broader subject matter. He produces 15-20 daily news stories per day and works with the Connect team and clients to develop longer-form content, ranging from Q&As to thought-leadership pieces. Prior to joining Connect, Paul was Managing Editor for both Real Estate Forum and GlobeSt.com at American Lawyer Media, where he oversaw operations at both publications while also producing daily news and feature-length articles. His tenure in B2B publishing stretches back into the print era, and he has served as Editor in Chief on four national trade publications. Since 1999, Paul has volunteered as the newsletter editor of passenger rail advocacy groups (one national, one local).

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