San Antonio veterans being courted for careers in Texas’ gas industry

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Jamie Schwaberow | Bloomberg

File photo of a contractor for Anadarko Petroleum Corp. Texas Railroad Commission officials have organized a Natural Gas Summit and Job Fair at Austin's Palmer Events Center on Thursday, Oct. 23 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

James Aldridge

Web Editor- San Antonio Business Journal

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Texas Railroad Commission officials are hosting the agency’s first Natural Gas Summit and job fair in Austin with a goal of helping the industry fill more than 10,000 jobs statewide.

Railroad Commissioner David Porter is coordinating the summit, which will take place at Austin’s Palmer Events Center on Thursday, Oct. 23 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The summit will feature 64 exhibitors, including Atmos Energy, GE, Halliburton and Ryder. The entire event is free and open to the public.

But even though the summit is being held in Austin, Porter has invited hundreds of servicemen and women from Camp Bullis, Camp Mabry, Fort Hood, Fort Sam Houston, Lackland Air Force Base and Randolph Air Force Base who are transitioning out of military life to attend. Camp Bullis, Fort Sam Houston, Lackland and Randolph are all part of Joint Base San Antonio.

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“Increasing activity and an aging workforce have the oil-and-gas industry eager to fill jobs,” Porter said in a news release. “That’s why I personally invited the leaders of military bases and institutions of higher education across Texas to send job seekers to the Natural Gas Summit.”

Employers are in the market to hire business managers, construction workers, engineers, field service technicians, finance and accounting professionals, mechanics, rig hands, sales and marketing professionals, truck drivers and welders. The average oil-and-gas worker in Texas earns about $107,000 a year.

Porter convened the summit in order to expand the state’s natural gas industry. In just a year, natural gas as a motor fuel displaced 16 million gallons of gasoline and diesel in Texas. There are more than 100 natural gas fueling stations and there are currently 7,148 registered natural gas-powered vehicles on the road.

James Aldridge oversees online content of the newspaper; edits and reports stories for the online edition.