All 80 employees of their company, Premier Energy Services, are Hispanic, reflecting a shift that has slowly transformed Texas’ oil-rich western expanse.
Where a roughneck — the grease-stained symbol of Texas’ economic identity — was once typically a white man hoping to strike black gold, the average oil field worker is now a Hispanic man who was born in Texas.
“Growing up, my dad used to take me to work in the oil fields.
It was a white man’s industry,” said a foreman, Alfredo Ramirez, 31, a third-generation Mexican American.
“Today it is us Latinos.”Mark Matta, a city councilman in Odessa, chuckled as he described a television series about a Texas oil rig in which most of the workers were white.
Persons:
—, ”, Alfredo Ramirez, ” Mark Matta
Organizations:
Premier Energy Services, “
Locations:
West Texas, Odessa, Texas, chuckled