The oil and gas industry has gone through major changes, especially in the Midwest, where large oil and gas companies have acquired large leases. However, opportunities can still be found for smaller independent companies. Smaller producing leases can be identified and developed outside the scope of larger companies and can provide a very economic source of oil and gas revenues.

Contract trucking is growing, along with oil and gas exploration.

WW Trucking, headquartered in Farmington, New Mexico, which is a service centre for the San Juan Basin area, transports production water to disposal wells and fresh water to well sites for drilling and completion.

In the San Juan Basin alone (NM, CO, AZ, & UT) it is estimated there are approximately 43,000 producing wells with an additional 5000 new wells per year coming onstream over the next 10 years. The San Juan Basin is the third largest gas producing area in the United States. San Juan oil and gas wells generate $325 million annually in federal royalties, half of which goes to New Mexico. ConocoPhillips, Shell-Texaco, XTO Energy, Encana and British Petroleum are among those companies active in the area.

New Mexico’s petroleum industry is the largest civilian employer in the state, with over 23,000 jobs directly related to oil and gas production, refining, processing, marketing, transportation, and field services.

New Mexico ranks 4th in oil reserves and 2nd in gas reserves in the United States. (Reserves are the amount of oil and gas in the ground waiting to be produced).

New Mexico ranks 6th in oil production and 2nd in gas production in the United States.

**Source** http://www.nmoga.org/nmoga/facts.html