 A national recession greatly affected the city 's economy in 1982 , as areas of Texas and Oklahoma heavily dependent on oil suffered the freefall in gas prices due to a glut , and a mass exodus of oil industries . Tulsa , heavily dependent on the oil industry , was one of the hardest hit cities by the fall of oil prices . By 1992 , the state 's economy had fully recovered , but leaders worked to expand into sectors unrelated to oil and energy . 
