With the oil and gas downturn affecting the Permian Basin, rival high schools are joining together to drum up support for the industry.
Midland High and Midland Lee have little reason to bond, but the toll of sliding oil prices on the Basin has united Rebels and Bulldogs in raising awareness about the plight brought on by foreign oil coming to the U.S.
Midland Lee senior Peyton Fotis made it a goal for everyone in the Basin to “conquer the issue.”
“Fix our economy and our oil all as one,” Fotis told CBS 7. “With the price of oil being negative and the foreign oil coming into the United States, of course we need to stop that and just focus domestically.”
Midland High senior Karissa Flores put it more bluntly: no Saudi Arabian oil on American shores.
“We want to keep the oil we have now, so that’s going to be from Canada, the United States, and Mexico,” Flores told CBS 7. “Midland and Odessa [are] just oil based. We need our parents to have their jobs. We need to keep stuff going here in Midland.”
Kim Fotis is a parent who works in the sector. While she is still employed with B&L Pipeco, the company shed about 20% of its workforce in response to the downturn exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
She and her family were at a rally calling for the rejection of foreign oil. It was a teachable moment for the children and countless others.
The Basin and the Texas oil and gas industry are pinning their hopes on a new OPEC deal that was reached earlier this month. The deal struck on Easter Sunday is expected to take nearly 10 million barrels off the market and keep prices competitive despite low demand during the outbreak.