HOUSTON — The boom in energy production from shale deposits has spurred economic growth in Texas but is facing constraints on several fronts, according to an energy industry economist.

Speaking at the International Risk Management Institute Inc.’s Energy Risk and Insurance Conference in Houston, Jessie Thompson, a Houston-based business economist at the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, said the impact of the energy boom has been easy to quantify. The economic boost the state of Texas has been especially pronounced in the past year as the energy industry shifts it focus to crude oil production in the wake of falling prices for natural gas.

“In the last few years, we have undone 25 years of declining oil production,” he said.

Nonetheless, he said the economic growth was tightly linked to the geographies producing the oil. “The counties in Texas that are growing the fastest are the ones producing liquid fuels,” he said.

The economic benefit of the surge in energy production has benefits in adjunct industries such as construction and hospitality, Mr. Thompson noted. “Hotel demand is through the roof,” he said.

Yet, Mr. Thompson identified several factors that could impede further growth in the sector. One potentially inhibiting factor is a lack of skilled workers such as rig operators and welders. “If you can weld and pass a drug test, you have probably already been hired,” he said. “The biggest question is where the labor is going to come from.”

Another possible impediment is a lack of, or improper mix of, infrastructure required to move and process fuels once they are extracted. “It may be the case that refineries become the bottleneck,” he said.

While he noted that the energy industry is planning billions of dollars worth of new infrastructure in the coming decades to address these concerns within the U.S., he said the industry also needs to find new export markets. “It’s important to remember that everybody has shale,” he said. “We may have a monopoly for the next five or 10 years, but our success could be replicated around the world.”