Yep.
True on the employment front. But on the positive side... if I can be self-serving for a minute...
Williams has grown significantly since the dark days of 2002 and has directly spun of two new energy companies that now call Tulsa home, Magellan Midstream and WPX Energy.
ONEOK has also grown pretty significantly in the past 10 years, as has Helmerich & Payne. There are many other smaller firms that have done well thanks to the shale gas boom.
Semgroup has recovered and is growing again, so much so that their board rejected a takeover offer from Plains last year and now they're building a new 200+ mile crude pipeline into Cushing.
Williams Communications (where I used to work) emerged from bankruptcy as WilTel and did very well before merging with Level 3. They still have a good number of employees in OTC... most of my former colleagues who made it through the BK still work there.
American Airlines is certainly in a rough patch right now, but hopefully they will be better in the long run.
Obviously losing an employer like CITGO and the others that have left are bummers, but I just wanted to point out that many local companies, even some that have gone through some tough times, are doing quite well right now.
Hopefully AA will come out on the other side of the BK as a stronger company with a better growth outlook.
Seems like someone mentioned the other day on here that BKEP (former SEM) is moving to OKC.
