Economic Impact

Alternative Energy | Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues

Solar Panels Can’t Compete with Cheap Shale Gas
January 5, 2012January 5, 2012

An article published today by NPR (no less) exposes the simple truth about solar energy: It just can’t compete with shale gas economically.

The article recounts the experience of a Pennsylvania family who installed 21 solar panels with government subsidies (that is, the government sliding their sticky fingers into your pockets to help pay for it). The end result? Even with taxpayer subsidies, the payback period for solar energy is 17 years—the lifetime of the system. At best it’s break-even, but in reality, it actually costs you more money than other forms of energy.

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Delaware County (PA) | Economic Impact | Energy Services | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Pennsylvania | Preferred Sands

Philly Frack Sand Company Expands, Buys WI Company
January 5, 2012January 5, 2012

Preferred Sands, a privately-held company headquartered in the Philadelphia suburb of Radnor, PA, has just bought out another sand company—Winn Bay Sand, located in Blair, Wisconsin—for $200 million. Preferred Sands is a frack sand and proppant company launched in 2007. It’s the largest frack sand producer in Canada, and one of the top three in the U.S.

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Economic Impact | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Processing Plants | Shell | Statewide OH | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Ohio Offers Shell Cracker Plant $1.4B in Tax Incentives
January 2, 2012January 2, 2012

Competition to attract an ethane cracker plant is heating up. West Virginia has made no bones that they intend to be the winners of the investment that will be made to build an ethane cracker plant to be built by Shell. The plant will cost upward of $2 billion and will create thousands of jobs to build the plant, operate the plant, and just as importantly, in the industries that will locate near the plant once it’s operational. It’s an economic jackpot worth $5 billion or more, and those who are in the game to attract it are in it to win.

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Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Statewide WV | West Virginia

WV Officials Say Rail Access Key in Attracting Cracker Plant
December 21, 2011December 21, 2011

According to West Virginia officials, one of the keys to attracting an ethane cracker plant to the state is the humble railroad. In locations where there is only a single railroad line, costs are higher, so officials are discussing ways of introducing more rail competition at potential locations in the state should one of those locations be selected as the location for an ethane cracker. Options include building a short-line railroad and either rehabilitating or building new railroad bridges.

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Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Mahoning County | Ohio | Utica Shale

More Marcellus & Utica Shale Jobs Coming to Youngstown, OH
December 21, 2011December 21, 2011

The good economic news keeps coming in for the Marcellus and Utica Shales. If approvals come (as expected) from the city of Youngstown, Ohio, Exterran Energy Solutions will build a new $13 million manufacturing facility in the city in 2012. Exterran manufactures parts used in compressors and compressor stations used in the production and transportation of natural gas from shale drilling. The new plant could provide as many as 200 new jobs in the next several years.

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Belmont County | Chesapeake Energy | Economic Impact | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Utica Shale

Chesapeake Real Estate Purchases in Ohio Signal Expansion
December 20, 2011December 20, 2011

Chesapeake Energy has just paid $630,000 for two pieces of real estate in Belmont County, Ohio—ground zero for Utica Shale drilling in eastern Ohio. Chesapeake will not officially comment on the purchases, but there’s little doubt they will build a new satellite office at one location for their Ohio drilling operations, and perhaps use the other parcel (land and warehouse) for storage and operations. It shows the serious commitment Chesapeake is making in Ohio and signals their further expansion in the area.

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Economic Impact | Energy Services | Halliburton | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Muskingum County | Ohio

Halliburton Buys Land in OH for Utica Shale Operations Center
December 20, 2011December 20, 2011

Halliburton has just purchased 178 acres in the EastPointe Business Park in Washington Township near Zanesville, Ohio. The company plans to build an operations center at the location servicing companies drilling in the Utica Shale. The new operations center is expected to create 300 jobs within the next three years.

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Commodity Price | Economic Impact | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues

Marcellus Shale Means NJ Residents Heating Bills Vastly Lower
December 19, 2011December 19, 2011

Even though there is no fracking of natural gas wells in New Jersey, residents of that state are enjoying much lower heating bills this winter because of fracking. In fact, according to the AARP, using natural gas for heating costs about one-fifth of what it costs using oil. Why? The Marcellus Shale.

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Economic Impact | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Statewide NY | Taxation

NY Frack Calculator Shows Tax Revenue from Just One Well
December 14, 2011December 14, 2011

Just how much money would be generated in taxes by a single Marcellus Shale gas well in New York State? The Independent Oil and Gas Association of New York (IOGA of NY) wants you to know, and has created a calculator on their website that will tell you. You can find it here.

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Economic Impact | Fayette County | Industrywide Issues | Kanawha County | West Virginia

Surprise Announcement of Ethane Cracker Plant in WV
December 12, 2011December 12, 2011

In a surprise move, two West Virginians have announced their intention to build an ethane cracker plant in the state. Former state Supreme Court Justice Richard Neely and Ryan Cunningham, owner of Charleston-based Cunningham Energy have formed a partnership with a few others and will try to get the necessary permits and financing to build an ethane cracker plant on a 1,500-acre plot near Montgomery, WV.

Two large energy companies, Shell and an unidentified company, have said they will make announcements in January of 2012 on where they will build ethane cracker plants. West Virginia was hopeful that Shell or the other company would select their state. But Neely and Cunningham don’t want to leave it to chance—so they plan to move forward.

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Economic Impact | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Shell

Shell’s Major Shift to Natural Gas, US Gas-to-Liquids Plant?
December 7, 2011December 7, 2011

Shell is moving into natural gas in a major way. In fact, natural gas will eclipse crude oil for Shell sometime next year by being more than 50 percent of Shell’s global production. Shell has committed to spending $2 billion to build an ethane cracker plant in the Marcellus region of the U.S., and now they are talking about building a gas-to-liquids plant. Shell invested an astonishing $19 billion in a gas-to-liquids plant in Qatar. Imagine that investment coming to the U.S.! Such is the transformative power of shale gas.

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Economic Impact | Energy Companies | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Shell | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Shell, One Other Company Close to Cracker Plant Announcement
December 7, 2011December 7, 2011

According to officials in West Virginia, who are super-serious about attracting at least one ethane cracker plant to their state, Shell and one other company will announce site selections for their plants in January of 2012. West Virginia fully intends that at least one of those two plants will be inside their borders, and they are pulling out all of the stops to ensure it happens. In fact, according to WV Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin’s chief of staff, it’s the newly-elected governor’s “No. 1 goal.”

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Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Jobs

New Study Shows Economic Boom from Shale Gas in U.S.
December 6, 2011December 6, 2011

A new study just released shows that natural gas drilling and production will add 900,000 jobs and $1,000 to annual household budgets across the country, on average, by 2015. And shale gas production will go from adding $76 billion to U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) now, to $118 billion by 2015.

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Chesapeake Energy | Economic Impact | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Enterprise Products Partners | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Is Chesapeake’s Ethane Pipeline Deal a Negotiating Tactic?
November 10, 2011November 10, 2011

Last week, MDN reported that officials in West Virginia were angry with Chesapeake Energy over their decision to sign a contract to ship ethane out of the Marcellus region for processing in the Gulf Coast (see this MDN story). Specifically, state Commerce Secretary Keith Burdette said the deal may jeopardize the state’s chances of attracting a cracker plant—a facility that processes ethane into ethylene, the raw material used to make plastics. The chief complaint was that Chesapeake has been part of negotiations to bring such a plant to the region but at the same time were silent about their impending deal with Enterprise Products Partners to lease a pipeline to move ethane out of the area.

Chesapeake has responded to the criticism and says its deal with Enterprise has been “misunderstood.” A recent statement from Chesapeake seems to indicate the deal to ship ethane via pipeline is a negotiating tactic to get the best price for their ethane. Other industry sources are sticking up for Chesapeake and say the deal is certainly not a “cracker killer.”

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Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Jobs

Oil and Gas Industry Leads the Way in U.S. Job Creation
November 10, 2011March 24, 2012

Quick…guess which industry has nine of the 11 fastest growing jobs in the U.S.? That’s right, the oil and gas industry. In fact, the six fastest growing jobs in the country for 2010-11 are all related to oil and gas extraction. In 2011, the o&g industry is projected to add 85,000 new jobs!

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Chesapeake Energy | Economic Impact | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Enterprise Products Partners | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Pipelines | Statewide WV | West Virginia

WV Officials Angry with Chesapeake Over Ethane Pipeline Deal
November 7, 2011November 7, 2011

State officials in West Virginia are angry with Chesapeake Energy over the announcement that Chesapeake has signed a deal to ship ethane out of the Marcellus region via pipeline to the Gulf Coast for processing. A quick petrochemical lesson: Some of what comes out of the ground when drilling for natural gas is the chemical compound ethane—especially found in “wet gas” areas of the Marcellus like West Virginia. Ethane can be processed into ethylene, which is the raw material used to make plastics.

West Virginia and Pennsylvania have been heavily courting Shell and at least one other unnamed company to build a “cracker plant” to process the ethane (crack it) into ethylene. Building a cracker plant in the region would attract thousands of jobs and billions of initial investment, and billions in revenue from associated plastics industries that would sprout up around the plant. It’s like winning the biggest imaginable lottery jackpot when it comes to jobs, money and tax revenue.

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