oil town
Crude-rich municipality
An oil town is a community whose economy centers on petroleum extraction and production.
These towns often boom rapidly when oil is discovered, drawing workers and speculators, then decline when reserves deplete: The old oil town was half-abandoned after the wells ran dry.
The term evokes images of roughnecks, derricks, and boom-bust cycles.
- boomtownRapidly growing community
- boom and bustRecurring economic extremes
- wildcatterSpeculative petroleum explorer
- drillingHole-making by rotation
- drill siteWhere drilling occurs
pipe · labor migration · pumpjack · pump jack · roughneck · petroleum · derrick · tank · pipelines · refinery · housing shortages · trailer park · social stratification · barrel · hardscrabble · saloon · sprawl · pollution
- industrial townsindustrial city, Gary, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Youngstown
- settlementsvillage, cities, hamlet, city, towns
- lifestylessimple living, city life, family life, minimalism, rural life
- oil industrypetroleum, crude, drilling, drilling rig, refineries
oil townfarming community
Settlement centered on cultivation
agricultural town · fishing village · college town · resort town · tech hub
oil townmetropolis
Large important city
economic hub · financial center · metropolitan area · major city · cosmopolitan city