Simmons: Energy downturn’s true impact not yet realized Brook A. Simmons Oklahoma’s oil and natural gas industry continues its long, slow march to better days, but the influx of federal dollars into the state in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic clouds the economic impact of depressed oil and natural gas prices for the industry and the state as a whole. The true economic impact of the downturn in the state’s defining industry is still to be seen, according to the most recent Oklahoma Energy Index from Russell Evans and the Steven C. Agee Economic Research and Policy Institute.