The Benefits of Oil and Gas in New Mexico
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New Mexico is one of the United States’ leading oil and gas producers, ranking 3rd in annual oil production and 9th in annual natural gas production. With production concentrated in two areas—the Permian Basin in the southeast and the San Juan Basin in the northwest—the industry brought in more than $3.1 billion to New Mexico’s economy in 2019.
- Oil and gas activity contributes more than one-third of the critical funding for New Mexico public schools, infrastructure, health care and public safety in the state.
- The oil and gas industry provides more than $1 billion of education funding to New Mexico schools each year – that’s over one-third of the total education funding in the state.
- The energy industry provides local jobs and helps grow New Mexico’s economy. Prior to COVID-19, more than 100,000 New Mexicans worked in the oil and gas industry. As the nation goes back to work, the industry will continue to play an important role in economic recovery.
- The oil and gas industry continues to innovate and develop new technologies to reduce emissions. In fact, ExxonMobil is conducting field trials of eight emerging methane detection technologies at nearly 1,000 sites in Texas and New Mexico to further reduce methane emissions. ExxonMobil is also on track to reduce flaring by 25 percent and methane emissions company-wide by 15 percent by the end of 2020, compared to 2016 levels.