Benny Ford drives back to Benro Pump and Supply after picking up a downhole pumping unit from a well site near Goldsmith on Aug. 14.— a weekly dispatch about the people, places and policies defining Texas, produced by Texas Tribune journalists living in communities across the state.GOLDSMITH — It’s Friday, which means it’s hamburger day at Benro Pump and Supply.
The bustling industry is both changing and contracting. Corporate mergers mean fewer customers for oil equipment companies like Bilbrey’s. And technological advances also allow big oil to do more with fewer people and less equipment. Earlier in the day, one of Bilbrey’s employees, Benny Ford, drove out to an abandoned lot. Scraps of a pumpjack and old pipes were strewn all over the place. A ditch was filled with a rank chemical liquid.
Ford was hired at Benro Pump in 2019. In his previous job, the Oklahoma native helped build electrical substations in the oil fields. It was a good-paying gig, he said. But the 14-hour shifts with no holidays were terrible. Benro Pump and Supply owner Ben Bilbrey poses for a photo at his shop in Goldsmith. Bilbrey originally founded Benro in 1984 and ran it until his retirement in 2014. He returned five years later after management issues began to arise.In 1984, he decided he had enough experience to open a business. To fund the idea, he took on $300,000 in debt, which he used to buy the materials and equipment and hire employees. He named it Benro, an amalgam of his name and the name of his ex-wife, Rodine.
Corinna Bilbrey manages the front office of Benro Pump and Supply in Goldsmith. Corinna, a career nurse, left her job in 2021 in order to help her husband return to the family business after his retirement in 2014. She now manages the business’ finances and operations.Together they oversee a team of laborers who build pumps that can withstand the heaving pressure from lifting the fossil fuels thousands of feet below the ground for years.
“It's hard for us because we don't sell the lowest price thing, we sell the best service and we sell high quality,” said Corinna. “And that's hard when your customers are driven by numbers.” A service rig crew pulls sucker rods from an oil and gas well as they work to bring a downhole pumping unit to the surface on Aug. 14 in West Odessa.Data shows the number of wells is declining. According to Baker Hughes, which has tracked rig counts for decades, there were 370 rigs in Texas operated by oil companies in March 2023. That number fell to 294 in March of 2024.