The biggest concentration of oil industry jobs in Colorado isn’t in the Front Range or Western Slope oil and gas fields. It is in the office towers of downtown Denver.
About 9,800 people are working for the industry in Denver — 60 percent more than in Weld County, according to a University of Colorado at Boulder Leeds School of Business study released Thursday.
“While oil and gas production is concentrated in a few counties, we saw impacts across the state, but the benefits in Denver were really surprising,” said Brian Lewandowski, a study co-author.
The study, commissioned by the American Petroleum Institute, calculated that 31,900 people work in the industry, which pumped $126.5 billion into the state’s economy between 2008 and 2012.
The industry also generated more than $410.3 million in 2012 property taxes, severance taxes and federal mineral lease distributions in Colorado, the study calculated.
Oil and gas production activity is concentrated in 38 of the state’s 64 counties — with 88 percent of the production in Weld, Garfield, La Plata, Rio Blanco and Montezuma counties.
Weld County, scene of the most sustained drilling in the state, accounted for 43 percent of the state’s 2012 production worth $3.7 billion, according to the study.
That activity yielded Weld $55.1 million in tax revenues.
Denver accounted for zero production in 2012, the study said.
Still, Denver received $17.9 million in oil industry-related corporate, personal sales, commercial and personal property taxes, the CU report estimated.
Denver industry employees accounted for $1.5 billion in salaries in 2012 — three times as much as Weld County industry employees receive.
“While these are office jobs, they range from secretaries to executives,” Lewandowski said.
The industry is leasing nearly 1 million square feet of office space in the Denver metro market and 17 percent of all the office space in Denver, according to CBRE Global Research and Consulting.
The Downtown Denver Partnership, a business association, is conducting its own study on the impact of the oil and gas industry on the city.
“We are looking at the wide range of economic impacts,” spokeswoman Brittany Morris Saunders said.
The industry, for example, is likely having a positive impact on hotels and the lodging tax, she said. “We know this industry creates a lot of meeting and conference activity.”
The 31,900 direct industry jobs support 61,600 secondary jobs around the state, the report said.
“It is hard to trace the cross-border impacts,” Lewandowski said. “Cement may be made in Boulder County and sold to be used in cementing wells in Weld County.”
Mark Jaffe: 303-954-1912, mjaffe@denverpost.com or twitter.com/bymarkjaffe
Updated Tuesday, October 14, 2014 at 3:05 p.m.: This story has been updated to reflect the share of office space rented by the oil and gas industry in the Denver metro market. The industry is leasing nearly 1 million square feet of office space in the Denver metro market and 17 percent of all the office space in Denver, according to CBRE Global Research and Consulting.
