Cross-posted from the Akron-Canton development thread. A lot of this is being driven by the Marcellus/Utica shale gas and oil exploitation. I renamed this thread because the benefits of this play are clearly spreading beyond the Youngstown area.....

 

 

Timken Co. ponders $225 million investment in Canton's Faircrest Steel Plant

8:14 am, August 25, 2011

 

Timken Co. (NYSE: TKR) said it is considering an investment of $225 million at its Faircrest Steel Plant in Canton that would increase capacity and expand the product range of Timken alloy steel bars.

 

The maker of bearings and steel said a ladle refiner and a new large-bloom continuous caster would be central to the investment, targeted to begin production in 2014.

 

Timken said a team charged with developing a plan for moving the project forward is beginning discussions with suppliers and government officials. In addition, company representatives plan to engage the United Steelworkers on the labor agreement that covers the plant.

 

 

READ MORE AT:

http://www.crainscleveland.com/article/20110825/FREE/110829917

Chamber Plans Utica Shale Conference

Aug. 24, 2011 12:43 a.m.

 

YOUNGSTOWN -- The Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber will present the "YOUNG 2011 Conference & Expo" from 10 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Nov. 30 at the Covelli Centre.

 

The "YOUNG" conference, which the chamber says is short for "Youngstown Ohio Utica and Natural Gas," is the first conference in the state focused on the developing Utica and Marcellus shale natural gas industry.

 

It will feature local and national companies exhibiting products used in the fossil fuels industry as well as educational presentations from experts and industry leaders.

 

Thus far, V&M Star, Chesapeake Energy Corp. and the United Association of Plumbers and Pipefitters, Local 396, will sponsor the event.

 

READ MORE AT:

http://business-journal.com/chamber-plans-utica-shale-conference-p19850-1.htm

Looks like all is not well in the Marcellus Shale World.

 

 

I guess it all depends on how you look at it and the Utica play........

 

AUGUST 23, 2011, 7:27 P.M. ET

USGS boosts amount of Marcellus Shale gas reserves

Associated Press

 

PITTSBURGH — The U.S. Geological Survey said Tuesday that the Marcellus Shale region contains some 84 trillion cubic feet of undiscovered, recoverable natural gas, far more than thought nearly a decade ago.

 

Tuesday's figure is much higher than the last government assessment in 2002, which suggested about 2 trillion cubic feet of recoverable gas.

 

The USGS said the estimate came from new information about the gas-rich formation underlying New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia, and from technical improvements in how wells are drilled.

 

READ MORE AT:

http://online.wsj.com/article/AP2d29300efb9c4a59a4a36048b28374d2.html

A different perspective:

 

Geologists Sharply Cut Estimate of Shale Gas

By IAN URBINA

Published: August 24, 2011

 

WASHINGTON — Federal geologists published new estimates this week for the amount of natural gas that exists in a giant rock formation known as the Marcellus Shale, which stretches from New York to Virginia.

 

The shale formation has about 84 trillion cubic feet of undiscovered, technically recoverable natural gas, according to the report from the United States Geological Survey. This is drastically lower than the 410 trillion cubic feet that was published earlier this year by the federal Energy Information Administration.

 

Read more at:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/25/us/25gas.html?_r=1&ref=us

Ain't it funny how different publications put such a wildly different slant on the same news? Both are correct, but which is more truthful? The EIA has no geologists, so should they be publishing reserves estimates in the first place?

Shale drillers may face new air-pollution limits

Spencer Hunt

Columbus Dispatch

 

Energy companies eager to tap natural gas and oil from Utica and Marcellus shales in Ohio soon could face air-pollution limits on their new wells.

 

The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency’s proposal for permits is a first for the state. The EPA had not considered any of Ohio’s 64,378 active oil and gas wells significant air-pollution threats.

 

The new practice of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” used to tap shale gas can necessitate multiple wells at a single site. That means more storage tanks, pipelines, diesel engines and other devices that can leak or emit hazardous compounds will be concentrated in a single spot.

 

Read more at: http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2011/08/28/shale-drillers-may-face-new-air-pollution-limits.html

I missed this one -- a steel mill expansion in Howland Township in the Youngstown-Warren area.....

 

Wheatland Tube receives state credit for OCTG expansion

WEDNESDAY, 27 JULY 2011 02:31:00 (GMT+2)

 

On Monday, Ohio's Tax Credit Authority approved a 40 percent job creation tax credit over a period of six years for Wheatland Tube's Howland Township mill.

 

Wheatland Tube is investing a total of $11.4 million in the mill to increase production and enhance oil country tubular goods (OCTG) efficiency at the Howland Township mill. Wheatland Tube is a division of the JMC Steel Group, one of the largest producers of tubular goods in North America.

 

READ MORE AT:

http://www.steelorbis.com/steelnews/news/article.do?filename=616903

Leery looks at shale boom

Some have damage concerns

September 6, 2011

By MATTHEW STEFFY - reporter ([email protected]) , Tribune Chronicle | TribToday.com

 

Not all observers are filled with eager anticipation regarding a potential economic boom from exploration of Marcellus and Utica shale formations, which are rich in natural gas and possible oil.

 

Some fear that the potential for environmental damage in Ohio and Pennsylvania increases along with the investment dollars now flowing. One such individual is John Stolz, professor of biology and director of the center of environmental education and research at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh.

 

"There are a plethora of issues that are involved," Stolz said, saying that water use and disposal, well placement and well encasement are all areas of concern. The largest concerns involve hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," which uses large amounts of water, which then must be properly disposed.

 

Read more at: http://www.tribtoday.com/page/content.detail/id/561348/Leery-looks-at-shale-boom.html?nav=5021

Pa., W.Va., Ohio vie for huge new Shell gas plant

By KEVIN BEGOS Associated Press

Posted: 09/03/2011 09:17:28 AM PDT

 

PITTSBURGH—Big industry may be coming back to the northeast United States.

 

Shell Oil Co. is nearing a decision on where in the Appalachians to build a huge new petrochemical refinery—a project that could bring thousands of construction and production jobs and change the face of the region for decades.

 

The plans are driven by the vast natural gas reserves discovered in the Marcellus Shale, a deep formation that lies beneath New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia and parts of other states.

 

The scale of the multibillion-dollar project is unlike anything seen for decades in the region, said David Hounshell, a professor of technology and social change at Carnegie Mellon University.

 

READ MORE AT:

http://posttrib.suntimes.com/business/7448671-420/radical-shift.html

Instead of underselling each other OH, PA, and WV should try to work together on a joint development region for this facility and it's potential spinoffs.  They could agree to coordinate infrastructure investments and share taxes.

Great idea.  You should submit it to Kasich.  Seriously.  I was actually thinking an area like Stuebenville would be a good location for something like this.  But it sounds like WVa is all in on getting this facility located somewhere near Charleston. 

Instead of underselling each other OH, PA, and WV should try to work together on a joint development region for this facility and it's potential spinoffs.  They could agree to coordinate infrastructure investments and share taxes.

 

Pretty radical! There is going to be spinoffs for the entire region no matter where Shell's main cracker plant ends up. And the article casually referenced that at least one other major player is considering a huge plant too -- I have been hearing about this for about a month and I'm aware that Youngstown-area officials are making a major play for one of these separator plants to be built on a former steel mill property. But I didn't realize how big one of these plants might be.

 

EDIT: here is a regional economic entity that might be the right player to facilitate the kind of revenue-sharing and infrastructure development from and for these activities... 

 

http://www.powerof32.org/

 

Marcellus Shale Opponents Push Drilling Ban in Ohio

 

Ohio is the latest state where opponents are pushing a ban on a form of drilling that injects chemicals into shale to release natural gas.

     

Democratic state Sen. Michael Skindell, of suburban Cleveland, introduced a bill Tuesday calling for a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," to await results of a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency study of potential environmental hazards.

     

Ohio would join New York and New Jersey among states above the fuel rich Marcellus shale if it imposes the ban. Calls for bans in West Virginia and Michigan have been unsuccessful.

 

READ MORE AT:

http://www.wkbn.com/content/features/shale/story/Marcellus-Shale-Opponents-Push-Drilling-Ban-in/oYLlqS7Yz0-32XB1hTUjlg.cspx

This disposal gas well (not a production well) is being drilled on the east side of Youngstown near Lincoln Park....

 

 

Consol Energy Splits Ohio Shale Drilling; Retains ‘Oil Window’ in Mahoning County

Sept. 8, 2011 7:14 a.m.

 

PITTSBURGH -- Consol Energy Inc. has entered into a $593 million deal with Hess Energy of New York for the joint exploration and development of Consol's 200,000 acres in the eastern Ohio Utica shale.

 

The agreement splits shale drilling work with Consol generally operating in the so-called "oil window" in Mahoning County as well as in Portage, Tuscarawas and Noble counties, according to the joint announcement. Hess will operate "in the liquids-rich window," the companies said, which encompasses some 80,000 acres in Belmont, Harrison, Guernsey and Jefferson counties.

 

Consol and Hess anticipate initial drilling operations to begin in a few weeks, and will thereafter average two rigs in 2012, 3.5 rigs in 2013, and eventually plateau at an average of five rigs in 2015.

 

READ MORE AT:

http://business-journal.com/consol-energy-splits-ohio-shale-drilling-retains-oil-window-in-mahon-p19939-1.htm

Whoa, Ohio

 

Published: September 12, 2011 - 10:34 PM Whoa, Ohio September 13,2011 02:34 AM GMT Beacon Journal Publishing Co.

 

 

While federal agencies and many neighboring states are taking a cautious approach, John Kasich is pushing ahead eagerly with drilling for oil and natural gas in deep shale formations. Last month, the governor called discoveries in Ohio “huge,” predicting an economic boost. Last week, he moved David Mustine, the head of the Department of Natural Resources, to a leadership role in JobsOhio, the privatized economic development agency. There, Mustine, a former oil and gas services company director, will promote drilling in the Marcellus and Utica shale formations.

 

The move continues an unfortunate pattern when it comes to the controversial drilling technique used to tap the shale layers. Called hydraulic fracturing, the method uses at each well millions of gallons of water, laced with toxic chemicals and sand. The mixture is pumped into the ground under high pressure, releasing trapped oil and gas.

Full editorial at: http://www.ohio.com/editorial/editorials/whoa-ohio-1.234720

Ohio shale gas worth billions of dollars and 200,000 jobs

Published: Wednesday, September 21, 2011, 6:00 AM    Updated: Wednesday, September 21, 2011, 4:55 PM

  By John Funk, The Plain Dealer

 

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Ohio's natural gas and oil reserves are a multibillion-dollar bonanza that could create more than 204,500 jobs in just four years, an industry group said Tuesday.

 

The economic impact study, released on the eve of Gov. John Kasich's energy summit, attributed the jobs to leasing, royalties, exploration, drilling, production and pipeline construction to produce gas and petroleum from Utica shale, a rock buried more than a mile and a half underground.

 

The summit is designed to open discussions about Ohio's use of coal, natural gas and renewable energy technologies such as solar and wind as well as state-mandated energy efficiency rules.

 

READ MORE AT:

http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2011/09/ohio_shale_gas_worth_billions.html#incart_mce

A few years ago, the idea in vogue by the environmentalists* was "combined heat and power" and "microgeneration". 

A facility that needed heat would generate electricity with a (natural) gas turbine and use the waste heat to heat the building

or as a heat source for an industrial process.  Very little energy would be wasted.  CHP would supplant coal fired electricity.

 

The need for a zero carbon future has led environmentalists to abandon CHP and endorse totally renewable solutions.

For example, photovoltaics have dropped in price and we are starting to see a huge buildout of solar electricity generation.

 

*Rocky Mountain Institute and Amory Lovins  http://www.rmi.org/rmi/

Some good well results from Chesapeake Energy.

 

These aren't in the oil section of the shale, just from the dry and wet gas sections. But the production rates for the natural gas liquids are very good and bode well for the oil section.

 

Chesapeake Energy News Release (PDF)

• The Buell 10-11-5 8H in Harrison County, Ohio was drilled to a lateral length of 6,418 feet and  achieved a peak rate of  9.5 million cubic feet (mmcf) per day of natural gas and 1,425 barrels (bbls) per day of natural gas liquids and oil (liquids), or 3,010 barrels of oil equivalent (boe) per day;

• The Mangun 22-15-5 8H in Carroll County, Ohio was drilled to a lateral length of 6,231 feet and achieved a peak rate of 3.1 mmcf per day of natural gas and 1,015 bbls per day of liquids, or 1,530 boe per day;

• The Neider 10-14-5 3H in Carroll County, Ohio was drilled to a lateral length of 4,152 feet and  achieved a peak rate of  3.8 mmcf per day of natural gas and  980 bbls per day of liquids, or 1,615 boe per day; and

• The Thompson 3H in Beaver County, Pennsylvania was drilled to a lateral length of 4,322 feet and achieved a peak rate of 6.4 mmcf per day of dry natural gas.

Any oil/liquids well with a peak or IP (Initial Production) rate of 1,000 barrels/day or more is a very good well. Even 500 bpd is a pretty good well.

 

Any gas well with a peak or IP rate of more than about 1-2 million cubic feet (abbreviated "mmcf") is a good well. 5-10 mmcf is a very good well, and you'll sometimes get wells in these plays with 15-25 mmcf, which is a monster well.

Mark P. Mills, Contributor

MARKETS | 9/26/2011 @ 10:44PM |11,824 views

Buckeye Oil Billions Will Unleash an Ohio Manufacturing Tech Boom

 

A prediction.  The Ohio Valley is on track to become a hotbed of innovation.  And one which will almost certainly focus on 21st century manufacturing.  The catalyst for this seemingly counter-intuitive claim?  Money.  Black gold.  Ohio is about to be awash in both.

 

Early evidence of this bright future is already blossoming on the shores of the Mahoning River in Youngstown, Ohio, where global steelmaker Vallourec & Mannesmann is building a steel mill.  Yes, in America.  In Ohio.  Some 400 jobs are in play building the ten-story building, and almost as many will be permanently employed.  The $650 million project is injecting real jobs, real opportunity, and real hope – and a window on the future.

 

Oh, yes.  The plant will build steel tubes for the energy market.  The oil and gas market.  The revenue gusher is unleashed by the constellation of advanced technologies that are collectively known as “fracking.”  Youngstown, in fact most of Ohio, sits above the massive geophysical Marcellus and Utica shale structures which are richly endowed with billions of barrels of liquid and gaseous hydrocarbons.

 

READ MORE AT:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/markpmills/2011/09/26/buckeye-oil-billions-will-unleash-an-ohio-manufacturing-tech-boom/?partner=yahootix

Gas development through fracking is being sold as "eliminating our dependence on foreign energy".  In North Dakota, the oil developers are just flaring off the natural gas that comes up with the oil that they are extracting.  Gas and oil development should be regulated to stop this waste of resources and carbon emissions before forcing Ohioans to be exposed to potentially dangerous energy development.

 

In North Dakota, Flames of Wasted Natural Gas Light the Prairie

 

 

By Clifford Krauss

NEW TOWN, N.D. — Across western North Dakota, hundreds of fires rise above fields of wheat and sunflowers and bales of hay. At night, they illuminate the prairie skies like giant fireflies.

 

They are not wildfires caused by lightning strikes or other acts of nature, but the deliberate burning of natural gas by oil companies rushing to extract oil from the Bakken shale field and take advantage of the high price of crude. The gas bubbles up alongside the far more valuable oil, and with less economic incentive to capture it, the drillers treat the gas as waste and simply burn it.

 

… remove data on carbon impact and value of the wasted energy  …

All told, 30 percent of the natural gas produced in North Dakota is burned as waste. No other major domestic oil field currently flares close to that much, though the practice is still common in countries like Russia, Nigeria and Iran.

 

… further edit for “copyright reasons” …

“North Dakota is not as bad as Kazakhstan, but this is not what you would expect a civilized, efficient society to do: to flare off a perfectly good product just because it’s expensive to bring to market,” said Michael E. Webber, associate director of the Center for International Energy and Environmental Policy at the University of Texas at Austin.

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/27/business/energy-environment/in-north-dakota-wasted-natural-gas-flickers-against-the-sky.html?_r=1

‘Fracking’ permits booming

State approves 27 wells from July to September

By  Dan Gearino

The Columbus Dispatch Thursday October 13, 2011 6:54 AM

 

Interest in natural gas embedded in Ohio shale shifted from talk to action in a big way in recent months.

 

Of the 45 horizontal-drilling permits that have been issued for Ohio’s Utica shale formation, more than half were issued since July. It’s the latest sign of the state’s boom in oil and gas exploration.

 

The figures, compiled by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, show the rapid increase in the potential for the type of wells often associated with a controversial drilling technique known as hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking.”

 

READ MORE AT:

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2011/10/13/fracking-permits-booming.html

Get ready with rail in the Valley

October 30, 2011

Editorial Board ([email protected]) , Tribune Chronicle | TribToday.com

 

While there are strong indications that the Warren-Youngstown area will enjoy an explosion of manufacturing and other jobs because of the Marcellus and Utica shales, one way to further ensure this robust future would be to invest in rail restoration.

 

The good news pours in frequently and it's difficult to comprehend. Take Carroll County, a mere 40 miles from Trumbull County. Carroll sold the mineral rights to a county park for $1.1 million. One proposal is to use the money to purchase a former resort and lease it to a hotelier because soon there won't be nearly enough houses, apartments, hotels and motels to accommodate all of the workers. Unemployment would virtually cease to exist.

 

....One way to fully capitalize on the economic potential would be to shore up northeast Ohio rail lines, especially what is known as the Ravenna Connector. When industry declined, railroads made cuts. Now that industry is rebounding, gaps in rail corridors and poor track conditions could interfere.

 

The Ravenna Connector is a gap in a rail line critical to link the Mahoning Valley with Cleveland and Lake Erie.

 

READ MORE AT:

http://www.tribtoday.com/page/content.detail/id/563481/Get-ready-with-rail-in-the-Valley.html?nav=5007

Fracking concerns prompt shareholder questions for Exxon Mobil and other oil companies

Published: Friday, November 04, 2011, 6:05 AM    Updated: Friday, November 04, 2011, 7:31 AM

By John Funk, The Plain Dealer The Plain Dealer

 

Concerns about "fracking" are moving from the oil field to the board room.

 

Companies that use hydraulic pressure to fracture shale rock to produce natural gas and oil now face a probable campaign questioning the technology, though it dates back more than 60 years.

 

This movement is more than a protest or public relations maneuver. It's a campaign that aims to mobilize shareholders, the individual investors and managers of funds that own shares in the companies.

 

The instigators are part of a new breed of investors who have emerged in the last decade, Timothy Smith, a senior vice president at Boston-based Walden Asset Management, told a crowd of about 130 people Thursday at a meeting of theFirst Friday Club of Cleveland, sponsored by the Cleveland Catholic Diocese.

 

Read more at: http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2011/11/exxon_mobile_and_other_oil_com.html

Specialty chemicals industry preps for natural gas windfall

Plastics producers will benefit with extraction of 'liquid' raw materials

By DAN SHINGLER

4:30 am, November 7, 2011

 

They drilled more than a mile beneath the soil and bedrock of eastern Ohio, into millions of years of cooked dinosaur carcasses and found ... polyethylene?

 

Well, not exactly. What the drillers found, as just about everyone knows by now, is billions of dollars of natural gas and oil. But along with the oil and gas is billions of dollars of other “liquids,” as the industry calls them. They are the raw materials that go into plastic resins and many other specialty chemicals — and they might be as much a boon to Ohio's economy as the gas and oil itself, experts say.

 

“It's huge for our industry,” said Cal Dooley, president of the American Chemistry Council in Washington, D.C. “There's just been a dramatic shift in the conversations in the boardrooms of U.S. chemical companies because of shale gas.”

 

The talk has turned to gas, Mr. Dooley said, because many of the feedstocks for makers of plastics and specialty chemicals are derived from natural gas. And recent discoveries in eastern Ohio of huge deposits of “wet gas” — gas that has more of the liquids that are used to produce plastics and chemicals — are fueling the conversation further.

 

READ MORE AT:

http://www.crainscleveland.com/article/20111107/SUB1/311079983

Enterprise Products proposes Ohio pipeline to move shale ethane

Business First by Rick Rouan, Web coordinator

Date: Friday, November 4, 2011, 11:03am EDT - Last Modified: Friday, November 4, 2011, 11:43am EDT

 

Rick Rouan

Web coordinator - Business First

 

A Texas transporter of natural resources is planning a pipeline that would stretch across 13 southern Ohio counties and take ethane collected from Marcellus and Utica shale deposits to the Gulf Coast.

 

Nearly a quarter of Houston-based Enterprise Products Partners LP    ’s proposed 1,230-mile pipeline would run through Ohio, crossing the Pennsylvania border into Jefferson County before exiting on the west side of the state in Butler County, north of Cincinnati. Along the way, the pipeline would touch Harrison, Tuscarawas, Coshocton, Muskingum, Licking, Fairfield, Pickaway, Fayette, Greene, Clinton and Warren counties.

 

The pipeline will travel through Ohio on its way to Cape Girardeau, Mo., where existing pipe will carry the ethane to Beaumont, Texas, for distribution, said Rick Rainey, Enterprise’s spokesman. The pipeline, with a capacity of 125,000 barrels a day, expected to be operational in the first quarter of 2014.

 

READ MORE AT:

http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/blog/2011/11/enterprise-products-proposes-ohio.html

Chamber Utica Expo Spots Sold Out

Nov. 7, 2011 7:02 a.m.

 

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- The Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber reports Exhibit space is sold out for its Youngstown Ohio Utica & Natural Gas (YOUNG) 2011 Conference & Expo Nov. 30 at the Covelli Centre, but people can still attend the morning and afternoon sessions and the evening mixer.

 

"Exhibition interest exceeded our expectations," said Bergen Giordani, the Regional Chamber's director of special events. "Exhibit space sold out in late October, even after the additional booths were added to make room for 60 exhibitors," she said.

 

The day-long conference and expo, Ohio's first Utica shale play trade show, is open to the public from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. During that time, attendees may view all of the exhibits, as well as learn about job opportunities, the science of hydrofracking and essential tips for landowners.

 

READ MORE AT:

http://business-journal.com/chamber-utica-expo-spots-sold-out-p20340-1.htm

Job seekers looking for Ohio oil-boom paydays

By Jim Mackinnon

Beacon Journal business writer

 

Published: November 11, 2011 - 12:44 AM

 

Harold Davis just finished working three months in the new, booming North Dakota oil fields where he says it is common to make $10,000 a month driving big trucks to and from rigs.

 

While companies still can’t find enough people to fill open jobs in North Dakota, the 46-year-old Malvern resident returned to Northeast Ohio and now wants to drive trucks in soon-to-be developed eastern Ohio oil fields.

 

“I want to work local. I don’t want to work out there,” Davis said. “It’s booming out there. Wow. You wouldn’t believe it. It’s like a city of rigs.”

 

Davis and lots of other people are hoping that unleashing the oil and natural gas trapped in the Utica and Marcellus shale far under Ohio’s soil also will result in a much-needed jobs boom here.

 

READ MORE AT:

http://www.ohio.com/news/job-seekers-looking-for-ohio-oil-boom-paydays-1.244882

Federal EPA Finds Compound Used in Fracking in Wyoming Aquifer

 

As the country awaits results from a nationwide safety study on the natural gas drilling process of fracking, a separate government investigation into contamination in a place where residents have long complained that drilling fouled their water has turned up alarming levels of underground pollution.

 

A pair of environmental monitoring wells drilled deep into an aquifer in Pavillion, Wyo., contain high levels of cancer-causing compounds and at least one chemical commonly used in hydraulic fracturing, according to new water test results released yesterday by the Environmental Protection Agency.

 

The findings are consistent with water samples the EPA has collected from at least 42 homes in the area since 2008, when ProPublica began reporting on foul water and health concerns in Pavillion and the agency started investigating reports of contamination there.

 

Last year -- after warning residents not to drink or cook with the water and to ventilate their homes when they showered -- the EPA drilled the monitoring wells to get a more precise picture of the extent of the contamination.

 

http://www.propublica.org/article/epa-finds-fracking-compound-in-wyoming-aquifer

This is a month old but still relevant.....

 

Gas Drilling Boom Brings New Life To Steel Industry

Posted October 13, 2011

National Public Radio

by Jeff Brady

 

A natural gas drilling boom in Pennsylvania is helping the economies of Rust Belt cities long accustomed to bad news. Drilling requires steel — lots of it — and that has manufacturers expanding and hiring new workers.

 

While much attention has been paid to the environmental risks of drilling into the Marcellus Shale, the economic benefits have been less prominent in the national discussion. But in Youngstown, Ohio, locals have been watching an old industry come back to life.

 

The Brier Hill neighborhood, northwest of downtown Youngstown, has been relatively quiet for the past few decades since the huge steel mills there shut down. But today it's noisy again, with trains passing each other on the tracks and heavy construction under way.

 

READ MORE AT:

http://www.energycapitalonline.com/news/article.php?aid=60

This is a little bit newer.....

 

November 5, 2011

Ethane cracker plant cracking up?

Chesapeake plan to ship Marcellus ethane to Texas hurts cracker plans in W.Va., Burdette says

By Eric Eyre

 

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Chesapeake Energy's decision last week to sign a long-term contract to transport 75,000 barrels of ethane per day from the Appalachian shale region to the Texas Gulf Coast could jeopardize West Virginia's chances of getting a multibillion-dollar cracker plant, state Commerce Secretary Keith Burdette said.

 

"It's not a 'cracker-killer,' but this certainly doesn't help," Burdette told the Sunday Gazette-Mail. "The timing is bad, the message is bad, and we're disappointed."

 

Chesapeake said it doesn't expect the pipeline project to decrease West Virginia's chances of landing an ethane cracking facility.

 

Burdette said state officials are in "serious talks" with two companies looking to build crackers in West Virginia. He declined to name the firms.

 

READ MORE AT:

http://wvgazette.com/News/201111050078

This was discussed earlier this evening at a business social gathering in the Youngstown area.....

 

Geologist: Fracking Can Cause Small Earthquakes

November 12, 2011 12:10 PM

 

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – Scientists are exploring a new concern about gas extraction in Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale beds:  Earthquakes.

 

To break up the shale, to get to the gas, energy companies pump millions of gallons of water, sand and chemicals underground. Temple University Geologist Nick Devatzes says if large quantities of water are injected near a fault, it can be destabilizing.

 

“It has the potential for providing that fluid volume to push those surfaces apart and allow them to slip or it can push so hard that it literally lifts the two surfaces away from each other and they open.”

 

So, if it’s done near a fault line, it can cause movement — very slight movement, under three on the Richter scale.

 

READ MORE AT:

http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2011/11/12/geologist-fracking-can-cause-small-earthquakes/

Some think a gas boom can reignite Ohio's manufacturing economy

Published: Tuesday, November 22, 2011, 6:00 PM    Updated: Wednesday, November 23, 2011, 7:28 AM

By Robert L. Smith, The Plain Dealer

 

Mike Conny does not work on a drilling rig or explore for gas or know anyone who does.

 

He builds trailers that go onto the backs of trucks. He builds the tankers that can haul water to drilling rigs, the heavy-duty trailers that lug the rock and sand needed for gas wells.

 

As the prospects of a shale gas boom come to light, Conny illustrates one of the enduring lessons from the gold rush days. It was not the miners who struck it rich, but the folks who sold them the shovels.

 

READ MORE AT:

http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2011/11/some_think_a_gas_boom_can_reig.html

'No Frack Ohio' Targets Utica Shale Expo

Nov. 28, 2011 7:14 a.m.

 

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- This week's Utica Shale expo at the Covelli Centre is ground-zero for anti-fracking activists summoned here for a march and rally organized by the No Frack Ohio Coalition to "expose the natural gas industry's first Ohio expo for its half-truths and propaganda," the group says.

 

The Youngstown Ohio Utica & Natural Gas (YOUNG) 2011 Conference & Expo, sponsored by the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber, takes place Wednesday at the downtown arena.

 

"Ohio is a state in emergency right now (emphasis in original)," states the rally flyer. "Four-thousand horizontal fracked wells are expected in Ohio in the next four years. In Pennsylvania, 3,000 wells have already been drilled. Results so far: Drinking water polluted with toxic fluids and radioactivity; roads ruined; explosions and fires; uncontrolled releases of frack fluid; quiet communities disrupted; and local economies sacrificed to the boom/bust cycle."

 

READ MORE AT:

http://business-journal.com/no-frack-ohio-targets-utica-shale-expo-p20480-1.htm

Vendors Seek Opportunities at Shale Expo

Nov. 30, 2011 7:02 a.m.

By George Nelson

 

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- Trumbull Industries has sold about 50 miles of piping for water transfer systems servicing Marcellus Shale projects in Pennsylvania. Now the Youngstown company is looking to capitalize on the opportunities presented by the emerging Utica Shale.

 

Lou Trebella, sales representative for Trumbull Industries, set up his company's exhibit late Tuesday at the Covelli Centre in preparation for today's Youngstown Ohio Utica & Natural Gas 2011 Conference & Expo. "They're already fracking in Pennsylvania," he said. "They're already producing, all the things that are waiting to happen in Ohio."

 

An industrial supplier whose offerings include pipe valves and fittings used in water transfer systems, Trumbull Industries is among the 65 companies exhibiting at the trade show, sponsored by the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber.

 

 

Read more at: http://business-journal.com/vendors-seek-opportunities-at-shale-expo-p20500-1.htm

Cross-posted from the V&M Steel Mill Expansion thread in projects/construction. Expect an announcement soon about an even larger, $250 million investment in the construction of a melt shop.....

 

$57 million steel finishing mill planned for Youngstown

By DAN SHINGLER

2:49 pm, November 30, 2011

 

Shale gas development is pumping more money into Youngstown, as Houston-based VAM USA announced today that it will spend $57 million to build a steel finishing mill in Youngstown.

 

The company said in an announcement that the new facility would be attached to a $650 million tubular steel mill being built in Youngstown by V&M Star. That facility, about a million square feet in size, is expected to open by the end of next year and employ as many as 400 people.

 

VAM said its facility would open in phases, beginning in the middle of 2012, and would encompass 200,000 square feet. The company did not specify how many people might eventually work at the plant, which is to be fully online by the end of 2013.

 

READ MORE AT:

http://www.crainscleveland.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20111130/FREE/111139979

More......

 

The brown structure next to V&M's new mill is the site of the finishing mill.

 

Breaking News: VAM to Build $57M Finishing Plant at V&M Star

Nov. 30, 2011 12:02 p.m.

 

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- VAM USA, LLC, a manufacturer of premium pipe connections headquartered in Houston, minutes ago announced plans to develop a new finishing plant here.

 

The company said its plans call for the renovation of a 200,000-square-foot building currently in the V&M Star complex, and located within the "cooperative agreement zone" formed by Youngstown and the city of Girard in October 2009. V&M STAR LP and VAM USA are both affiliate companies of the Vallourec Group, based in Paris, France.

 

Ownership of VAM USA consists of a partnership between Vallourec, Sumitomo Metals and Sumitomo Corporation.

 

READ MORE AT:

http://business-journal.com/breaking-news-vam-to-build-m-finishing-plant-at-vm-star-p20502-1.htm

This is the other big news to come out of today's shale gas/oil expo.....

 

 

YSU to Develop Natural Gas and Water Resources Institute

Nov. 30, 2011 11:01 a.m.

 

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- Youngstown State University is developing a new institute designed to educate professionals and provide research for the emerging multi-billion dollar shale natural gas industry in Ohio and Pennsylvania, the school announced moments ago at the Youngstown Ohio Utica & Natural Gas 2011 Conference & Expo taking place today at the Covelli Centre.

 

The YSU Natural Gas and Water Resources Institute will provide bachelor's degree level courses in science and engineering that will lead to an academic minor in gas technologies and also will provide research opportunities for industry focusing on analysis of water used in the shale gas extraction process.

 

"Given YSU's location in the heart of the Utica shale region, this new Institute is well-poised to meet the educational and research demands and needs central to this new and growing industry," said Martin Abraham, dean of the YSU College of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, in which the new institute will be located.

 

READ MORE AT:

http://business-journal.com/ysu-to-develop-natural-gas-and-water-resources-institute-p20503-1.htm

The Youngstown Resurgence is on its way back. The manufacturing is great, but the drilling jobs and the economic development to come with it is that much bigger!

The Youngstown Resurgence is on its way back. The manufacturing is great, but the drilling jobs and the economic development to come with it is that much bigger!

 

At least two more factories are coming. V&M has a second melt shop coming with another electric arc furnace. An unknown company from Texas that makes gas compressors and pumps has a big plant coming that will hundreds of employees to compete with Deering Compressor. And there may be a third company which has been advertising for a project manager to oversee a new $25 million energy-related industrial construction project: http://jobs.cleveland.com/jobs/detail/43134874?jobId=43134874

 

I've also posted a job ads for new positions overseeing new facilities in/near Youngstown at: http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,9063.msg587746.html#msg587746

Lest we forget where we've been........

 

Pittsburgh Press, Sept. 19, 1977

http://freepdfhosting.com/b7482241f3.pdf

 

Milwaukee Journal - Sept. 21, 1977 - Page 1

http://freepdfhosting.com/e320905f20.pdf

Milwaukee Journal - Sept. 21, 1977 - Page 2

http://freepdfhosting.com/1e1990321a.pdf

More........

 

As Shale Drilling Booms, So Does V&M

Dec. 1, 2011 7:02 a.m.

By Dan O'Brien

 

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- The president and chief operating officer of V&M Star says projected rig counts in the energy industry fueled by natural gas exploration in the Marcellus and Utica shale means a stronger market here, which could lay the groundwork for even more expansion of its business.

 

"That's the reason we're here," said Joel Mastervich.

 

Mastervich made his comments shortly after he and Judson Wallace, president of VAM USA, a subsidiary of V&M parent Vallourec, announced that VAM would construct a $57 million finishing mill at the V&M project. The announcement was made during the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber's Youngstown Ohio Utica & Natural Gas 2011 Conference & Expo held Wednesday at the Covelli Centre.

 

READ MORE AT:

http://business-journal.com/as-shale-drilling-booms-so-does-vm-p20509-1.htm

And other direct beneficiaries too.....

 

Shale takes center stage

Job boom expected beyond drilling

December 1, 2011

By LARRY RINGLER - Business Editor ([email protected]) , Tribune Chronicle | TribToday.com

 

YOUNGSTOWN - Job creation for shale drilling projects is expected to extend beyond the drill site to storage areas for sand and pipe, air travel for workers flying to and from job sites, and training classes for job candidates.

 

The Ohio Commerce Park booth at the Youngstown Ohio Utica & Natural Gas Conference at the Covelli Centre attracted inquiries about space to offload and load piles of sand and steel tubes to be used in drilling and hydraulic fracturing of shale rock to release natural gas and oil.

 

"We have areas near the railroad that can handle transloading. We still have a lot of acres for buildings," said Gris Hurlbert, broker for Routh-Hurlbert commercial real estate brokers.

 

Officials with the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport and the Western Reserve Port Authority that runs the airport fielded questions about cargo storage and travel at the Vienna airport.

 

Aviation Director Dan Dickten said the airport is looking into flights with Cleveland, from where shale workers and business people could catch flights to energy centers in Houston, Dallas and Denver.

 

READ MORE AT:

http://www.tribtoday.com/page/content.detail/id/564794/Shale-takes-center-stage.html?nav=5021

Protestors were arrested outside of the local D&L brine injection well.

 

Charged with disorderly conduct after picketing the entrance to the "well" at the old USS Ohio Works site.

 

http://www.vindy.com/videos/2011/dec/01/1810/

 

 

That's an impressive spate of good news for that area in the space of less than a month.  Granted, KJP's point about what it was like 40 years ago and that it has a long way to go to get back to that level is legit, but even though the quantity of jobs may not return to what it was (those new plants going in will be more automated and therefore won't need 5,000 workers apiece), but it still means scouring a little bit of rust off the Rust Belt and getting goods and services and money produced in that region again.

 

Incidentally, what is that Youngstown-Girard cooperative zone that they were talking about in some of those articles?

Might be worth putting on your Favorites list.......

 

Youngstown Vindicator

Tracking Fracking

Special Web Page

http://www.vindy.com/news/fracking/

Incidentally, what is that Youngstown-Girard cooperative zone that they were talking about in some of those articles?

 

Here's the story:

http://business-journal.com/vm-deal-done-in-late-night-talksbrcities-to-ratify-agreement-next-week-p14797.htm

 

It's discussed in these posts at this thread:

http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,23808.msg432709.html#msg432709

Boom brings ripples

Experts: Shale means more than drilling jobs

December 4, 2011

By DAN POMPILI , Tribune Chronicle | TribToday.com

 

Valley job experts say the new pipe finishing plant at the former Sheet and Tube building in Youngstown is only one example of ancillary industrial business that a Marcellus Shale boom will bring.

 

The new plant, announced Wednesday, is being opened by V&M Star sister company VAM USA, a Houston-based Vallourec subsidiary that manufactures casing and tubing connections for the American oil and gas industry. VAM has three other such plants located in oil country cities like Houston, Houma, La., and Oklahoma City.

 

"This is all about the supply chain, and we want to be the center for that supply chain for that industry in this area," Youngstown-Warren Regional Chamber spokesman Tony Paglia said.

 

READ MORE AT:

http://www.tribtoday.com/page/content.detail/id/564910/Boom-brings-ripples.html?nav=5021

This is a VERY big deal for the continued growth of manufacturing activity in Ohio, especially Eastern Ohio.....

 

Total Said to Consider Chesapeake’s $2.14 Billion Ohio Shale

By Eduard Gismatullin and Brian Swint - Dec 7, 2011 11:54 AM ET

 

Total SA (FP), France’s largest oil and gas producer, may buy a stake in Chesapeake Energy Corp. (CHK)’s holdings in Ohio’s Utica shale, a person with knowledge of the matter said.

 

Total is considering the acquisition, the person said, declining to be named before a final decision is made. Chesapeake said on Nov. 3 it had signed a letter of intent with an unidentified international oil company for a $2.14 billion deal to sell 25 percent of 570,000 acres of Ohio’s Utica shale.

 

Pumping gas trapped in shale rocks has made the U.S. into the world’s largest gas producer, attracting investment from international oil companies such as BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP) and Royal Dutch Shell Plc. (RDSA) The Utica shale contains oil as well as natural gas, which may boost the fields’ profitability after gas prices fell 75 percent from their 2008 peak.

 

READ MORE AT:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-12-07/total-said-to-weigh-buying-chesapeake-s-2-14-billion-ohio-stake.html

When was the last time some of these regions saw new families arriving, let alone immigrants? Perhaps this situation should have been expected but it's sad that some people don't welcome change.....

 

HOPPY KERCHEVAL

Thursday December 1, 2011

Does W.Va. labor want jobs or doesn’t it?

Reflexive hostility to business hurts workers in the end

 

Maybe West Virginia has gotten so used to economic failure that it's having trouble handling a little success.

 

The Marcellus shale gas boom has increased the demand for workers  in drilling and related industries in the state, but the frequent complaint is that these companies are not hiring enough West Virginia workers.

 

Anecdotally, you hear grumbling about all the out-of-state license plates and workers who aren't from around here. Some of the carping is even tinged with bigotry because of an influx of Hispanic workers.

 

READ MORE AT:

http://dailymail.com/Opinion/HoppyKercheval/201111300173