Tulsa’s energy sector accounts for:

2.5 percent of all jobs in the area
4 percent of computer and mathematical occupations
6.6 percent of all wages
7.6 percent of management positions
14.7 percent of science occupations (geologists, etc.)
26 percent of the architecture and engineering positions held locally

Source: Tulsa Metro Chamber Chief Economist Bob Ball and U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Tulsa’s early version of the Golden Driller is hoisted up onto an oil derrick in 1959.

Tulsa’s energy sector highs and lows

Early 20th century: Tulsa defined as new “oil capital of the world” after giant finds at Red Fork (1901) and Glenn Pool (1905)
1918: Dave and Miller Williams move pipeline and construction firm, Williams, from Fort Smith, Ark. to Tulsa.
1920: Bill Payne joins Walt Helmerich to start drilling rig company that becomes Helmerich & Payne.
1923: Tulsa oil men create first International Petroleum Exposition and Congress.
1986: Oil bust leads to mass layoffs industry-wide, and Tulsa oil and gas companies are no exception.
1989: Reeding and Bates Corp. moves to Houston, only five years after adding 20 floors to Mid-Continent Tower in downtown Tulsa
1996: Warren Petroleum Co. ceases operations as NGC Corp. moves remaining employees to Houston.
2001: Parker Drilling Co. moves corporate HQ to Houston
2002: Bartlesville-based Phillips Petroleum Co. merges with Conoco Inc. and moves HQ to Houston
2002: Helmerich & Payne spins off exploration and production segment, merges it with Key Production to create Cimarex. Merged company based in Denver but maintains significant Tulsa office.
2004: Citgo Petroleum Corp. moves HQ to Houston.
2009: Holly Corp. (later HollyFrontier) buys Tulsa’s refineries from Sunoco Inc. and Sinclair Oil Corp.
2010: Oklahoma City-based SandRidge Energy buys out Tulsa-based Arena Resources Inc. for $1.6 billion
2011: Four Tulsa-based companies — Rose Rock Midstream, Mid-Con Energy Partners, Laredo Petroleum Inc. and WPX Energy Inc. — go public through IPOs or spinoffs. Baker Hughes announces major expansion at Tulsa area plants.
Early 2012: RAM Energy renamed Halcon Resources Corp. and HQ moving to Houston. RAM maintaining Tulsa offices.

The Energy Industry, including oil and gas, speaks a language all its own. Here’s a glossary of everyday terms which may need defining for the general public.

Rod Walton has covered the Tulsa World's energy beat since July 2008. He has won Oklahoma Press Association and Great Plains awards for his stories about the SemGroup bankruptcy and oil futures trading collapse.

Walton has worked at the World since 1993, as Community World editor, assistant city editor and state writer. He graduated 1986 from the University of Oklahoma. Walton lives in Bartlesville with his wife and four children.

Contact: 918-581-8457, rod.walton@tulsaworld.com