This month, Eric Planey and Sarah Boyarko of the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber visited Houston, TX, for three days to meet with representatives of energy companies and trade associations.  From the meetings, they learned they can help local companies be a part of the oil and gas supply chain in Ohio by facilitating American Petroleum Institute (API) certification.

Once you’re an API-certified company, it makes the opportunities in the oil and gas industry that much better—Eric Planey, Vice President of International Business Attraction, Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber (Regional Chamber to Facilitate API Certification, 12/17/12)

The Chamber is working with a Houston consulting firm to hopefully schedule a three-day course to help local manufacturer’s get an API certification.  Once the companies complete the course, API representatives come to the company’s facility to approve the certification.  EID sat down with Rebecca Heimlich of API for the Sunday Shale Show in November to learn more about the organization.

The Chamber is working with the Ohio Shale Coalition, part of the Ohio Chamber of Commerce, to get the course scheduled as soon as March.  This way, local companies and manufacturers can begin the process of entering the supply chain during the early stages of the shale play.  Planey and Boyarko held 13 meetings in Houston in which they learned the benefits using local companies in the supply chain:

They want to see the chamber and Ohio agencies assist with local companies becoming certified in areas such as API standards so they can use local supply chains. Not only is it good community practice to use local supply chains, it reduces overall costs—Eric Planey, Vice President of International Business Attraction, Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber (Regional Chamber to Facilitate API Certification, 12/17/12)

During the trip, Planey and Boyarko met with many different sectors surrounding the oil and gas industry.  Since Ohio is in the very early stages of the shale play, Texas is a good gauge of what is to come.  Just this week, the U.S. Chamber released a study on job creation from shale plays around the nation and reported 576,000 jobs have already been created in Texas from the industry.  The Youngstown Business Journal reported on the Chamber’s itinerary in Houston:

• Several manufacturers of components in upstream, midstream, and downstream oil and gas activities.
•  A financial services firm that caters to investment in the oilfield industry.
•  A global oilfield service company.
•  A large developer of mid-stream processing systems.
•  A well-established law firm that has significant experience in Ohio law for the energy industry.
•  A consultancy that assists companies with API certifications for the shale supply chain.
•  The Canadian Government’s office of the Trade Commissioner for Energy.

It is encouraging to know organizations like the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber are being proactive regarding the Utica Shale.  They have recognized the incredible opportunities coming to Ohioans through job creation, revenue and investment, and are working to make the Mahoning Valley a national epicenter for shale development and its suppliers.

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