Things Heat Up in the Permian Basin
While not the hottest region in the state, the Permian Basin experiences cyclical drought. Below is a graph from NOAA map tracking Texas drought conditions.
There is not a direct, causal relationship between regional drought levels and total Texas oil production. After the early 1930s total allowable production rates were set by state officials who made decisions based upon known oil reserves and the global market. However, since most oil was extracted from rural areas, the wealth generated through oil production was even more important in drought years.
Below is a map tracking annual Texas oil production (in millions of barrels) starting in 1935 and ending in 2015. Data is from the Texas Railroad Commission. A comparison between the Texas Railroad Commission Data and a NOAA map tracking Texas drought conditions reveals some interesting historical context.
Population and Depletion
During the 1950s, the oil industry underwent massive expansion. That decade also coincides with extended drought in the Permian Basin. Oil expansion kept the region’s cattle ranchers and farmers from bankruptcy.
Also, as oil production increased during the drought-plagued 1950s, the industry put increased strain on the region’s limited potable groundwater. The late 1940s and early 1950s were marked by a regional water crisis only solved through the daming of the Colorado River and the creation of the Colorado River Municipal Water District to provide drinking water for regional settlements.
What does all this mean?
It is clear that the future of Permian Basin oil extraction, like many of the oil producing regions around the world, depends upon an artificially abundant and finite water supply.