Pain in the Permian

West Texas is the beating heart of US oil. Can it survive the price bust?

The convoys of 18-wheelers ferrying equipment across the vast terrain easily outnumber all other vehicles on the road. They’ve long since overwhelmed a highway that was built for people passing through this desolate stretch of West Texas, now servicing one of the biggest oilfields in the world. Construction crews are laying down new tarmac as quickly as they can, but it’s not fast enough. Racing from oilfield to oilfield, horns blaring, the big rigs make navigating the road a sometimes-harrowing adventure for sedans like mine. And the dust: kicked up by the bustle, it coats everything. If this is your first impression of the place, you’d think business is still booming in the Permian shale,