Cheaper gas prices benefit some, hurt others
DALLAS - Ruthie's Rolling Cafe has four trucks that serve lunch throughout the Dallas metro area.
Owner Ashlee Kleinart says cheaper gas is saving the company $50 per fillup. That's adding up to $400-$500 a week.
"It gives us the ability to go out and be out in the community more, drive places more, " she said.
But the trucks at Frontier Services are starting to sit idle. The South Texas company services oil rigs. Denise Walker is the owner.
"You'd have big Gap Vax trucks coming through, your testing units and your trucks coming in and out," she said. "It's perpetual motion at all times. Right now it's slow."
Oil companies have started to shut down rigs that are no longer profitable because of falling prices, so there's less work. So far, ten of Frontier's 110 employees have left or been laid off.
It's estimated Texas could lost 140,000 direct and indirect energy jobs by midyear if oil stays around $55 a barrel. The number of active rigs in Texas has already fallen 10% in the last two months.
"I don't have a clue what the bottom is going to be," said Walker. And to plan for it? "Just take it day by day, that's all you can do. Hold on to your hat, cowboy, it's going to be a whirlwind.
The whirlwind continues to be a windfall for drivers. AAA estimates that if current trends continue, half the states could see prices below two dollars a gallon by next week.
