Ya, its not sarcasm. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Houston To summarize... Houston is home to more than 10,700 manufacturing establishments. The Houston-Gulf Coast region has nearly 40 percent of the U.S. capacity for base petrochemicals, ensuring rapid access to major resin producers and resin technologies. Houston is projected to experience a 2.7 percent increase in manufacturing employment by 2012 Houston dominates U.S. oil and gas exploration and production. The city remains unrivaled as a center for the American energy industry.[18] In January 2005, the Houston Primary Metropolitan Statistical Areas (PMSA) accounted for: 31% of all U.S. jobs in oil and gas extraction (38,300 of 123,400), and 14% of all U.S. jobs in support activities for mining (28,100 of 200,900).[19] Houston is headquarters for 17 energy-related Fortune 500 companies and is home to more than 3,600 energy-related establishments. Houston is home to 13 of the nation’s 20 largest natural gas transmission companies, 600 exploration and production firms and more than 170 pipeline operators. Houston is one of the world’s largest manufacturing centers for petrochemicals, and the $15 billion petrochemical complex at the Houston Ship Channel is the largest in the country. Supporting the industry is a complex of several thousand miles of pipelineconnecting 200 chemical plants, refinery, salt domes and fractionation plants along the Texas Gulf Coast, which allows transfer offeedstocks, fuel and chemical products among plants, storage terminals and transportation facilities. Houston has more than 400 chemical manufacturing establishments with more than 35,000 employees.[26] Houston has two of four largest U.S. refineries.ExxonMobil’s complex in Baytown is one of the oldest in the area and one of the largest of its kind in the world More than 235 establishments in the Houston metro area manufacture plastic and rubber products.[27] Houston dominates the U.S. production of three major resins: polyethylene (38.7% of U.S. capacity); polyvinyl chloride (35.9% of U.S. capacity) and polypropylene(48.4% of U.S. capacity) Like I said... Good name for a bar in this city. <----Forensic/Structural Engineer who works in Refineries, Nuke Plants, and Natural Gas Plants all over the US and Canada.