OOGA Sees Tremendous Growth in Membership

|

The Ohio Oil and Gas Association saw a doubling of their membership from June 2011 to June 2012, and they continue to add about 135 new members each month. Why? The Utica Shale.

The organization has doubled its membership in the last year, thanks largely to interest in Ohio’s Utica shale and the wet gas it holds.

“Last year (June 2011), when we printed our directory, we had 1,310 members in our directory. Our new directory just came out (in early June) … and we had 2,600 members,” said Kristy Hawthorne, the organization’s director of membership services.

“And now we have like 2,800,” she said in a June 29 interview.

Interest in Ohio by big drillers such as Chesapeake Energy have led other companies to join the organization, mostly because they hope to participate in the drillers’ supply chain, Ms. Hawthorne said. As a result, her organization is adding members at the rate of about 135 a month, she said.

Other organizations are impressed by the growth in membership, but Ms. Hawthorne said she can’t claim the credit.

“When I meet with people from other nonprofits, they say ‘How did you double your membership?’ and I just tell them, ‘It’s this little thing called the Utica shale,’” she said.*

*Crain’s Cleveland Business (Jul 5, 2012) – Natural gas boom drives growth for Ohio Oil and Gas Association

One Comment