1,500 oil jobs coming to city

Halliburton plans to hire 75 percent locally for its new operations base.

By Vicki Vaughan, vvaughan@express-news.net
Updated 12:32 a.m., Friday, November 18, 2011

Oil-field-services giant Halliburton Co. began work Thursday on a $50 million base of operations in San Antonio, for which it will need 1,500 workers to support its operations in the Eagle Ford shale.

Houston-based Halliburton began construction on a 400,000-square-foot structure at Interstate 37 and Loop 1604 South that will house its employees, who will earn annual salaries averaging $70,000.

Halliburton officials said they hope to fill 75 percent, or more than 1,100 positions, by hiring locally.

“This is great news. It's the biggest single-day announcement that San Antonio has had since Toyota,â€