This week, the Ohio Oil and Gas Association, ShaleDirectories.com, and the Zanesville-Muskingum County Chamber of Commerce hosted “Your Business and the Oil & Gas Supply Chain” at the Muskingum County Business Incubator in Zanesville.  Registration allowed 100 to attend, and the room was full of folks and businesses looking to get involved into Ohio’s growing oil and gas industry.

Some in the crowd were new to the industry, so Kristy Hawthorne, Director of Membership Services for OOGA, gave a “Snapshot of the Oilpatch” to give a better understanding of both current Utica Shale development and the industry’s needs.  She went on to explain Ohio’s robust regulatory program and industry oversight, an went in depth to help newcomers understand the technical process of extracting resources using hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling.

Since many in attendance were there to grow their business into the oil and gas industry supply chain, Hawthorne explained that this will require a large and diverse workforce that come from all over the state and nation, so you can’t be hesitant to go out of the county and contact people – companies can’t wait for producers to come to them.  She also emphasized that the industry really will begin to ramp up in the end of 2013 and into 2014, citing the Ohio Oil and Gas Energy Education Program Economic Impact Study that projects more than 200,000 jobs will be created by 2014.

With over 150 different positions required to put a well into production, many opportunities are available, including; legal work, construction of roads and well pads, trucking, fuel, security, housing, maintenance and repair, aggregate, equipment rental, cementing, welding supplies, and monitoring to name a few.  Currently, Ohio is seeing an uptick in midstream services now that we are phasing out of exploration and leasing.  All over the state, billions of dollars in investments are being made in natural gas processing facilities and pipelines, creating a whole new sector of job creation.

Before Ms. Hawthorne finished, she emphasized that there are also a number of indirect job opportunities, and businesses and communities should work to determine what the producers and companies needs are, and to fill the voids where needed.

Besides the “Snapshot of the Oilpatch”, several other presentations were available for those in attendance.  Next up was Brent Breon, Vice President of business Development for Caiman Energy.  He explained that Caiman Energy came to the Utica Shale because it is a “transformational opportunity”. Ohio is now looking to expand midstream services and infrastructure to get natural gas and liquid gases to market.  Mr, Breon noted that, for every dollar spent on upstream activity, a subsequent fifteen to thirty-five cents needs to be invested in midstream infrastructure to get the product in a form usable in the market.  Caiman is set to spend $1.4 billion for gathering in two counties alone in West Virginia – a good indicator of the type of investment we will continue to see as the development of Ohio’s resources continues to expand.

The rest of the seminar included a presentation from Joe Barone, President of ShaleDirectories.com, on how to be successful in the shale industry, a presentation on working outside of the oilpatch from Rob Beecham of Kelchner Energy Services, an explanation of the safety culture in the shale industry from RiskControl 360’s Brad Hunt, and an explanation of the purchasing process from Daniel Etter of Halliburton.

The seminar was a great and well-attended success, giving citizens from Zanesville and Muskingum County an in-depth look into the oil and gas industry, and the growing opportunities stemming from it.  EID has covered many of OOGA’s events this year and would encourage our companies to learn more from events like these.

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