Economic Impact

Chevron | Economic Impact | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Processing Plants | Shell

The (Long) Timeline for Building an Ethane Cracker Plant
March 13, 2012March 13, 2012

An article in today’s Pittsburgh Tribune-Review calls attention to what MDN pointed out yesterday about the Shell CEO comment that a decision on whether or not to build an ethane cracker plant in Appalachia is “years away” (see this MDN story). However, the T-R article adds some interesting information from Shell’s competitor Chevron about how many ethane cracker plants the region can support, and how long it takes to build a plant once the decision is made:

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Economic Impact | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Processing Plants | Shell

Shell’s Cracker Plant Actually “Years Away”?
March 12, 2012March 12, 2012

Are we still on track to find out in the next few weeks where Shell plans to build a multi-billion dollar ethane cracker plant? According to a Shell spokeswoman, yes. But in parsing the words of Shell’s CEO at a conference last week, even though the site may be announced, a “final decision” about investing in the site may still be “quite a few years away.” Here’s how it played out last week:

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Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Resources

New Website Connects Businesses to Marcellus Drilling Industry
March 7, 2012March 7, 2012

Here’s a great idea: Why not start a website where companies already involved in the Marcellus drilling industry, and those companies who want to work with them, service them, do business with them, can also be listed, so they can “connect.” Sort of Facebook or LinkedIn for Marcellus-related businesses. The Marcellus Shale coalition has done just that! The new website they’ve created to connect businesses interested in the Marcellus is called Marcellus on Main Street and is located at: www.MarcellusOnMainStreet.org.

The website just launched yesterday, so it’s not full of listings yet. It does contain Marcellus Shale Coalition member firms, which is a great start. If you work at or own a business and want to list it on the site, ~~the listing is free~~. (Sorry! I was wrong, the listing is not free but $25.) Your business may be trucking, or haircutting—it makes no difference. If you want to provide a service or sell something to the drilling industry, get your business listed in this new directory.

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Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | New York | Statewide NY

The Best Economic Hope for NY? Marcellus Gas Drilling
March 7, 2012March 7, 2012

MDN friend Tom Shepstone (from Energy in Depth) has a viewpoint article in today’s Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin. Titled “Best hope for N.Y. economy is gas drilling,” Tom makes a strong case for Marcellus drilling in New York. Among the eye-opening facts he brings to light, Tom points out:

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Bedford County | Blair County | Cambria County | Economic Impact | Fulton County | Huntingdon County (PA) | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Pennsylvania | Somerset County

PA Counties Band Together for Grant to Create Marcellus Jobs
March 7, 2012March 7, 2012

A regional economic development group made up of officials from Blair, Cambria, Somerset, Huntingdon, Fulton and Bedford counties in Pennsylvania is asking the state for a $700,000 grant to help them help businesses located in the southern Allegheny region identify new business opportunities in the shale gas drilling industry. The group hopes that their geography, strategically located between PA’s northeastern and southwestern Marcellus gas fields, will bring new business to the area, and along with that new business, more jobs.

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Chesapeake Energy | Economic Impact | Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues

Rolling Stone Shale Gas Hit Piece, Chesapeake Responds
March 5, 2012March 5, 2012

Last week Rolling Stone magazine ran a hit piece on the natural gas industry in general, and Chesapeake Energy and its CEO Aubrey McClendon in particular. The article, titled “The Big Fracking Bubble: The Scam Behind the Gas Boom” tries to recycle the theme already postulated by Ian Urbina in the New York Times some months ago that energy companies are vastly overstating just how much gas there is, and that they are in essence perpetrating a fraud on investors by covering it up. Rolling Stone, the NYT and other anti-drilling “media” outlets (I’d call them propaganda outlets) all use the same language and same arguments, trying to drive into readers’ psyche that shale gas drilling is a “Ponzi scheme” hoping to connect Bernie Madoff with gas drilling in your mind. Nice try Rolling Stone.

On Saturday, Chesapeake issued the following response, exposing the fallacies and lies found in the Rolling Stone article:

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Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Pennsylvania | Washington County

Washington County, PA Jobs & Wages Skyrocket from Marcellus
March 1, 2012March 1, 2012

Washington County in southwestern Pennsylvania has been named the third highest county in the country in job growth, due mostly to Marcellus Shale drilling and hydraulic fracturing. Not only that, but residents have seen an average increase of 8.8 percent in their wages.

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Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Ohio | Statewide OH | Utica Shale

New Study Predicts 65K Jobs in Ohio by 2014 from Utica Shale
February 29, 2012February 29, 2012

The Ohio Shale Coalition released a new economic study yesterday prepared researchers from Cleveland State University, Ohio State University and Marietta College. The study projects annual production of oil and gas from the Utica Shale in the state will reach $9.6 billion by 2014 along with an eye-popping 65,000+ jobs. And those jobs will have an average salary of more than $50,000 per year, adding an additional $3.3 billion in labor income in the state. Both a high level overview and a copy of the full 81-page report are embedded below. (MDN is honored to have scored a few mentions in the “News Articles and Web Sources” section of the study.)

MDN particularly likes this graphic from page 39 showing net acreage leaseholds held by drilling companies:

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Baker Hughes | Economic Impact | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Ohio | Stark County | Utica Shale

Baker Hughes to Build $64M Facility in Ohio; Create 700 Jobs
February 29, 2012February 29, 2012

Baker Hughes is planning to build a $64 million facility in Massillon (Stark County), Ohio. The announcement comes just a month after Baker Hughes announced they are building a new $40 million facility in Harrison County, West Virginia (see this MDN story). The company plans to employ 700 people at the Massillon facility when it’s done (in three years), at an average hourly wage of $31.25. The economic impact in eastern Ohio will be profound.

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Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Statewide OH | Statewide PA

Congressional Hearing: Shale Energy a “Game Changer” for Small Biz
February 28, 2012February 28, 2012

Dennis Heller is a small business owner—president and CEO of Stephenson Equipment in Harrisburg, PA. Stephenson Equipment employs 120 people selling and renting construction equipment and crane services, parts, and operator training at seven locations in Pennsylvania and New York. Heller recently testified at a U.S. House of Representatives Natural Resources Committee Energy & Mineral Resources Subcommittee field hearing in Steubenville, Ohio, on the impact of shale energy development and what it means for small businesses (a copy of his testimony is embedded below).

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Chesapeake Energy | Economic Impact | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Jefferson County (OH) | Ohio | Wastewater

Steubenville Selling 700K Gallons of Water/Day to Chesapeake
February 23, 2012February 22, 2012

The city of Steubenville in Jefferson County, Ohio has struck a deal to sell Chesapeake Energy treated wastewater, untreated river water and potable water—700,000 gallons of it a day for five years.

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Commodity Price | Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Northeast PA Starting to Feel the Dry Gas Drilling Slowdown
February 20, 2012February 20, 2012

The decision by Chesapeake Energy and other drillers to reduce drilling in dry gas (methane only) areas and instead concentrate on wet gas (natural gas liquids) areas is already having an impact on Pennsylvania’s northeastern counties where drilling last year was extremely active. Rig counts are going down, and with them, the amount of drilling activity goes down. It ultimately impacts the local economy in those areas, as noted in a recent Scranton Times Tribune article.

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Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues

CSX, Other Railroads Get Boost from Shale Gas Shipments
February 17, 2012February 17, 2012

MDN has previously written about how short line railroads in the Marcellus Shale region have seen a renaissance because of shale gas drilling. But the major rail lines, including the East’s largest railroad CSX, are also seeing a huge increase in shale gas shipping of fracking sand and equipment. And it’s happening just in time.

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Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Ohio | Statewide OH | Utica Shale

OH Drilling Rigs Expected to Increase 300% in Next 5 Years
February 16, 2012February 16, 2012

The executive director of the Ohio Oil and Gas Energy Education Association, Rhonda Reda, predicts that oil and gas drilling rigs will increase 300% in the next five years, and those rigs will create new jobs to operate them:

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Economic Impact | Energy Services | GreenHunter Resources | Heckmann | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Wastewater

Start a Company or Get a Job in the Marcellus? Try Water
February 15, 2012February 15, 2012

Looking for a way to participate in the Marcellus and Utica Shale economic boom? As an investor, or as a business owner or even as a job seeker, you might want to consider water. Yeah, water. Try these numbers on for size: In 2011, drillers paid somewhere between $1.3-$1.7 billion to dispose of fracking wastewater in the Marcellus Shale. In 10 years it’s estimated to be a $15-$22 billion market—just in the Marcellus Shale.

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Economic Impact | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Processing Plants | Shell | Statewide PA

PA Finally Joins the Cracker Plant Sweepstakes
February 14, 2012February 14, 2012

It seems that Pennsylvania has finally woken up to the fact that Shell is about to decide where they will invest some $2 billion and generate thousands of new jobs by building an ethane cracker plant. One of three bills signed into law by PA Gov. Tom Corbett on Monday was a bill that,

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