Odessa Concrete, Aggregate Producer Keeps Biz Growing

While oil and gas continue to be the main drivers in the West Texas market, up-andcoming entities are proving to be profitable, according to PB (Permian Basin) Materials

LLC CEO Christopher Crouch.

“We are becoming more of an energy center rather than just oil and gas,” said Crouch. “Wind and solar are making significant gains. There’s also gravity batteries and carbon capture. We probably have the largest AI mining or Bitcoin mining investment in the country. We don’t worry about the power going out in West Texas. There’s plenty of it, and that’s good for us.”

All the energy projects — as well as the infrastructure to support them such as roads, utilities and new commercial and residential developments — require a reliable, steady supply of aggregate and concrete products. With a staff of more than 350 people led by Crouch and Chief Financial Officer Philip McWard, PB Materials has been one of the area’s leading producers for a decade.

“Initially, there were three separate companies with more than 100 years of experience that, in 2013, combined into a single entity,” explained Crouch. “During the past several years, we have made a lot of headway in our product portfolio, dramatically improving the size of our reserves, what we do, and where we do it. We are the largest integrated producer in West Texas.”

Diverse Customer List

Based in Odessa, Texas, PB Materials’ 17 ready-mix facilities and 14 aggregate operations stretch north through Lubbock, south to Fort Stockton and west into New Mexico. Annually, PB Materials produces approximately 1 million yds. of concrete and more than 4 million tons of aggregate products.

“We have a pretty broad diversity of customers because we have a general contract- ing community here,” said Crouch. “We are also very closely tied to the DOT [Department of Transportation], as well as the municipalities and the marketplace. On the ready-mix side, we’re the go-to for specialty concretes and consider ourselves at the forefront of trying new mixes. We are one of the beta [testing] companies for some of the third-party and admixture companies because I’m a firm believer that the pioneers take all the arrows, but the pioneers also get there first. PB Materials is very open to trying new things and being on the leading edge of any technology within any business that we operate.”

That philosophy applies to PB Materials’ aggregate side too. More recently, it has entered into production of both wet and dry frac sand in West Texas. In total, PB Materials makes 22 products that range from ultra-fine sand to landscaping boulders. In addition to turning raw materials into finished products, PB Materials recycles concrete and asphalt.

“As required, we will work hand-in-hand with customers to figure out what best suits their needs, and we’ll make sure that they’re getting the right product for their application,” said Regional Operations Manager Chad Mikulec, who runs several of PB Materials’ aggregate operations. “We have a quality control staff that ensures the highest quality in all cases, whether that’s supplying materials to our own ready-mix operations or to the DOT or contractors. In addition to standard products, we do a lot of unique, custom specifications.” see MATERIALS page 24

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