Letter from Houston: Energy hotspot hopes for a ‘bronze lining’

The US oil capital may be battling both the oil price crash and a Covid-19 resurgence, but there are still reasons to be optimistic

Houston is a hotspot in more ways than one. As well as its sultry summers, it also places energy front and centre in its corporate and civic life and boasts the US’ largest concentration of energy jobs. But, during the coronavirus pandemic and resulting economic recession, Houston—and Texas more widely—have witnessed energy job furloughs and losses by the thousands, as well as oil and gas producers slashing budgets and, in the worst cases, filing for bankruptcy. Texas is also reporting one of fastest-growing of the country's resurgent Covid-19 outbreaks. Slimmed down The impact of the collapse in oil prices on Texas-based E&P firms, while significant, is perhaps not as harsh as it might