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Historic slide in oil could cost energy industry thousands of jobs - CNBC

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But trying to guess the size of future layoffs — or any lasting economic impact — is a trickier process, especially given the magnitude of the fall and lingering questions over Russia's eventual cooperation with OPEC.

Historically, big declines in the price of oil tend to have a mixed impact on Americans. Quick sell-offs followed by equally quick rebounds can keep the impact to a minimum, but more sustained swoons can have real economic consequences.

On the upside, a fall in oil prices usually leads to cheaper gasoline at the pump and offers the vast majority of U.S. consumers the freedom to spend their cash elsewhere.

President Donald Trump voiced that optimism on March 9, when he touted the decline in oil as a catalyst for American consumer.

"Saudi Arabia and Russia are arguing over the price and flow of oil. That, and the Fake News, is the reason for the market drop!" Trump tweeted amid the stock market's plunge. "Good for the consumer, gasoline prices coming down!"

But a reduction in income for the fraction of U.S. workers who make their living in or supporting big energy can have more serious ramifications for the states that host oil and gas production. Those typically include Texas, North Dakota, Alaska, California and New Mexico, which together account for about 67% of U.S. crude oil production.

"Low oil prices are good for consumers: All else equal it is a stimulus for the U.S. economy," said Raymond James energy analyst Pavel Molchanov. "Obviously, in regions of the country where there is significant oil and gas activity there is a counter-effect that is negative."

"There are some derivative job losses beyond the oil patch states because of manufacturing, trucks, rail cars, various steel tubes, metal manufacturing that pertain to the oil and gas industry," Molchanov added.

Even companies that have nothing to do with oil and gas, such restaurants, can come under pressure in the months after a slide in oil prices if the communities which they serve are home to crude production, the analyst said.

"The economic stimulus from cheap gas to the consumer has to be counterbalanced," Molchanov said.

The first such "counterbalance" at major exploration and production companies — which find and extract oil then sell it to refiners — is often a pullback in capital spending as companies rein in rigs to keep costs under control.