“The money’s here,” says Don Bryant, who was born in Hobbs 53 years ago and owns a company that makes tools to repair oil wells. He thought about uprooting for mountainous Colorado, but decided there was more opportunity in Hobbs, near the Texas border. From Texas to North Dakota, oil-producing regions of the U.S. are surging now that America is pumping record volumes of crude—10.9 million barrels a day during the second week of June, according to the Energy Information Administration. The leap from 9.4 million barrels a day a year ago is helping lift the U.S. economy as a whole, redefining the sweet spot at which oil prices are a tailwind for the country. Created with Highcharts 6.0.4Pump It UpNationwide average gasoline priceSource: GasBuddy Created with Highcharts 6.0.4201720182.002.202.402.602.80$3.00 The cost of a barrel of crude has risen roughly 60% in the past year, to about $71 a barrel, […]