Basic HTML Version
Invest in the U.S.
//
Energy
S P E C I A L A D V E R T I S I N G F E A T U R E
ment of natural gas fields in Pennsylvania
and West Virginia are now being used
to develop new resources for oil,” says
Michael Gilberson, PhD, an assistant
professor at the Center for Energy Com-
merce at the Business School of Texas
Tech University. “While you read a lot
about states like North Dakota growing
into a leading oil-producing region, you
also have to remember that this same
technology is being used to develop new
areas, such as Eagle Ford in South-Central
Texas. It’s also being used to obtain access
to oil that still exists in more mature
areas like the Permian Basin in Texas
as well as other well-developed fields in
the West in states such as Colorado and
Montana, where they couldn’t produce
this oil successfully before.”
Energy centers such as Houston are now
enjoying something of an oil renaissance.
“The Greater Houston market is the
energy capital of the world,” boasts Jeff
Wiley, president of the Greater Fort
Bend Economic Development Council.
Fort Bend is in the southwestern part
of the Greater Houston metropolitan
area. “Technology is an essential key to de-
veloping all the resources on the horizon,”
says Robert Siegfried, president of the
Research Partnership to Secure Energy
for America (RPSEA). The non-profit
corporation — formed by a consortium of
premier U.S. energy research universities,
industry and independent research
organizations — is headquartered in
Sugar Land, TX, Fort Bend’s largest city.
The challenge, Siegfried says, is to use
technology to develop these resources
in ways that are safe and have minimal
impact on the environment. Accomplish-
ing that, he says, “has the potential to
be a real economic game-changer in the
U.S.” by providing energy domestically at
a significantly lower cost than exporting
it. “The convergence of technology and
energy is happening here,” says Wiley,
adding that this convergence causes a
strong ripple effect on the local economy,
including industries not directly tied to
the oil and gas industries.
“The exploration of oil and gas is cer-
tainly helpful to the economy,” says Jim
Keenan, senior vice president of sales and
marketing for ABF Freight Systems, Inc.,
one of North America’s largest motor car-
riers. “The number of drilling rigs seeking
oil in the U.S. recently hit a 25-year high.
That resultant need for pipe and other
supplies to support this surge in drilling
is creating a ripple effect that does boost
the economics of many sectors, including
transportation.” Established in 1923, ABF
offers direct service to all 50 states, nine
Canadian provinces, Guam and Puerto
Rico, and moves goods throughout the
world. “When the energy sector of our
economy is doing well, it generally has
a positive impact on other areas of the
economy,” Keenan says. “This could
include the manufacturing sector that
creates the various tools and equipment
needed to capitalize new operations or
the service sectors that support this new
business activity, such as transportation.”
It even gives rise to entirely new
industries, such as Check-6. The company
was formed when Gordon Tschri er, a
deepwater drilling engineer, contacted
Brian Brurud, a highly decorated Navy
fighter pilot. Tschri er had read a report
about ways to improve safety and
performance standards in the oil and
gas industry. The report had two major
points: The oil and gas industry would be
be er served if the best practices of Navy
aircra carrier pilots were adopted and, if
fighter pilots were the instructors, these
new best practices would be more readily
adopted. “Gordon asked me to develop
a syllabus to train his folks on the rigs,”
says Brurud. “I said yes, and Check-6 was
born.” The company’s name is derived
from a term fighter pilots use to describe
watching the wingman’s most vulnerable
location, directly from the rear. “We
provide a service that was acutely needed
in the oil and gas industry. We know
we have been able to make a tangible
difference on rigs around the world, and it
is gratifying work,” says Brurud. Check-6
experienced a three-year growth of 2,661
percent and 2010 revenues of $14.8 mil-
lion. As the company strives to increase
its market share, Brurud says, he hopes
in the next two to three years to increase
the number of employees and contractors
to 500. Today, that figure is 130, including
45 employees.
REGIONS BENEFIT
While traditional energy areas in the
United States are seeing a resurgence in
employment created by the energy boom,
areas like Ohio, Pennsylvania and West
Virginia are seeing increases in employ-
ment caused by the development of new
natural gas resources. Here, the Marcellus
and Utica shale formations are yielding al-
most unthinkable amounts of natural gas,
as well as creating byproducts that can be
used as feeder stock for the petrochemical
industries and plastics manufacturing.
One Utica shale well in Ohio recently
produced enough natural gas in just 198
days to account for 2 percent of the state’s
total natural gas output for an entire year.
“The economics of drilling have been
distorted in areas that are producing from
the Marcellus and Utica shale formations,”
says Kent Bayazitoglu, of Gelber and As-
sociates. “You have a lot of foreign capital
ON THE MOVE
From left, ABF Freight Systems, Inc., one
of North America’s largest motor carriers; West Virginia
Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin (at right) tours a recent $25 million
renovation of the Glen Ferris hydroelectric facility in his state.