Energy Capital of the World (Houston nickname)

Entry in progress—B.P.
 
 
Wikipedia: Houston, Texas
Houston (pronounced /ˈhjuːstən/) is the fourth-largest city in the United States of America and the largest city within the state of Texas. As of the 2006 U.S. Census estimate, the city has a population of 2.2 million within an area of 600 square miles (1,600 km²). Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of the Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown metropolitan area—the sixth-largest metropolitan area in the U.S. with a population of around 5.6 million.
 
Houston was founded on August 30, 1836 by brothers Augustus Chapman Allen and John Kirby Allen on land near the banks of Buffalo Bayou. The city was incorporated on June 5, 1837 and named after then-President of the Republic of Texas—former General Sam Houston—who had commanded at the Battle of San Jacinto, which took place 25 miles (40 km) east of where the city was established. The burgeoning port and railroad industry, combined with oil discovery in 1901, has induced continual surges in the city’s population. In the mid-twentieth century, Houston became the home of the Texas Medical Center—the world’s largest concentration of healthcare and research institutions—and NASA’s Johnson Space Center, where Mission Control Center is located.
 
Houston’s economy has a broad industrial base in the energy, manufacturing, aeronautics, transportation, and health care sectors; only New York City is home to more Fortune 500 headquarters. Commercially, Houston is ranked as a gamma world city, and the area is a leading center for building oilfield equipment. The Port of Houston ranks first in the United States in international waterborne tonnage handled and second in total cargo tonnage handled. The city has a multicultural population with a large and growing international community. It is home to many cultural institutions and exhibits—attracting more than 7 million visitors a year to the Houston Museum District. Houston has an active visual and performing arts scene in the Theater District and is one of few U.S. cities that offer year-round resident companies in all major performing arts.
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Economy
Houston is recognized worldwide for its energy industry — particularly for oil and natural gas — as well as for biomedical research and aeronautics. The ship channel is also a large part of Houston’s economic base. Because of these strengths, Houston is designated as a gamma world city by the Globalization and World Cities Study Group and Network.
 
Five of the six supermajor energy companies maintain a large base of operations in Houston (international headquarters of ConocoPhillips; US operational headquarters of Exxon-Mobil; US headquarters for international companies Shell Oil (US subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell located in The Hague, Netherlands), and British Petroleum whose international headquarters are in London, England). Specifically, the headquarters of Shell Oil Company, the US affiliate of Royal Dutch Shell, is located at One Shell Plaza. While ExxonMobil maintains its small, global headquarters in Irving, Texas, its upstream and chemical divisions as well as most operational divisions, are located in Houston. Chevron has offices in Houston, having acquired a 40 story building intended to be the headquarters of Enron. The company’s Chevron Pipe Line Company subsidiary is headquartered in Houston, and more divisions are being consolidated and moved to Houston each year. Houston is headquarters for the Marathon Oil Corporation and Citgo.
 
Greater Houston is a leading center for building oilfield equipment. Much of Houston’s success as a petrochemical complex is due to its busy man-made ship channel, the Port of Houston. The port ranks first in the United States in international commerce, and is the tenth-largest port in the world. Unlike most places, where high oil and gasoline prices are seen as harmful to the economy, they are generally seen as beneficial for Houston as many are employed in the energy industry.
 
The Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown MSA’s Gross Area Product (GAP) in 2006 was $325.5 billion, slightly larger than Austria’s, Poland’s or Saudi Arabia’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). When comparing Houston’s economy to a national economy, only 21 countries other than the United States have a gross domestic product exceeding Houston’s regional gross area product. Mining, which in Houston is almost entirely exploration and production of oil and gas, accounts for 11% of Houston’s GAP; this is down from 21% in 1985. The reduced role of oil and gas in Houston’s GAP reflects the rapid growth of other sectors, such as engineering services, health services, and manufacturing.
 
Houston ranks second in employment growth rate and fourth in nominal employment growth among the 10 most populous metro areas in the U.S. The unemployment rate in the city was 3.8% in April 2008, the lowest level in eight years while the job growth rate was 2.8%.
 
In 2006, the Houston metropolitan area ranked first in Texas and third in the U.S. within the Category of “Best Places for Business and Careers” by Forbes magazine. Forty foreign governments maintain trade and commercial offices here and the city has 23 active foreign chambers of commerce and trade associations. Twenty foreign banks representing 10 nations operate in Houston, providing financial assistance to the international community.
 
In 2008, Houston received top ranking on Kiplinger’s Personal Finance Best Cities of 2008 list which ranks cities on their local economy, employment opportunities, reasonable living costs and quality of life. The city ranked fourth for highest increase in the local technological innovation over the preceding 15 years, according to Forbes magazine. In the same year, the city ranked second on the annual Fortune 500 list of company headquarters.  and ranked first for Forbes Best Cities for College Graduates.
 
13 May 1974, Washington (DC) Post, pg. A1:
Booming Houston Becomes the Energy Capital of the World
by George C. Wilson
 
3 August 1974, Port Arthur (TX) News, “Foreign companies flock to Houston” by Dudley Lynch, pg. 7, col. 1:
Unofficially, the bayou city is now known—from Adelaide to Riad—as the energy capital of the world.
 
Troubled Oil Men Blaming Government for Problems; Oil Men Troubled…
$3.95 - New York Times - Oct 31, 1975
... the Exxon Building, oil and energy executives look with wrinkled brows these days over booming Houston, the selfproclaimed “energy capital of the world. ... 
 
Houston, as Energy Capital, Sets Pace in Sunbelt Boom; Houston Is ...
$3.95 - New York Times - Feb 9, 1976
HOUSTON For decades, Houston was a steamy little southeast Texas swamp town ... for a city that had quietly grown into the energy capital of the world. ...
     
Time magazine
Barefoot in the Park
Monday, Jun. 21, 1976
If Houston’s first civic distinction is as “the energy capital of the world,” its second is perhaps equally enviable: a 1,466-acre park of woodland trails that is almost twice as large as New York’s Central Park. Geologists have long suspected that Houston’s Memorial Park sits on a pool of oil and gas, and now the city wants to tap it.
 
29 January 1978, Washington (DC) Post, pg. A6:
All Pipelines Lead to Houston, Energy Capital of the World
by Bill Curry
 
New york (NY) Times
Watch It, New York! Houston’s Desperate
By SAM HOWE VERHOVEK,
Published: June 8, 1994
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Many Houstonians say that their city’s irritating failure to come up a sports winner is emblematic of its inability to be widely recognized as a big-time player in other, more enduring respects. But Houston should indisputably be considered a world-class city. Often referred to as the energy capital of the world and the nerve center of the country’s space program, it is blessed with many attributes, like a relentlessly can-do civic optimism, top-rank museums and theater, magnificent parks that are green year-round, and arguably the most advanced cluster of hospitals and health-research centers anywhere at the Texas Medical Center.
 
In fact, Houston should be known as more than a world-class city. As many Houston enthusiasts like to point out, the very first word ever spoken by a man on the moon, 25 years ago this summer, was “Houston.”
 
OCLC WorldCat record
Energy capital Houston : guide to the energy industry
by Greater Houston Partnership.;
Type:  Serials / Magazines / Newspapers; English
Publisher: Houston, TX : Greater Houston Partnership, ©2001-
 
HighBeam Reearch
Energy capital of the world. (Houston, Texas).
From: National Petroleum News
Date: April 1, 2003