Oil's New Boomtowns Head Toward Bust

摘要

At the peak of the fracking boom a few years ago, Jeff Myers converted his South Texas hunting camp into rental oilfield housing. Little wonder: The industry had an almost insatiable hunger for the grunt laborers-the roughnecks-to work the fields, and employers were happy to spend whatever it took to house and feed them. Today that boomtown demand-and $100-per-barrel prices-is a bittersweet memory, and occupancy at Myers's once-packed Double C Resort has dropped to 10 percent as job cuts take hold. "There aren't going to be any winners down here," he says. "Everybody's going to have to adjust."