Oil & Gas Activities Pay Double Dividend In Manpower Growth And Local Economics

U.S. oil and gas exploration and production have a primary goal of increased fuel supplies. But they have an additional benefit almost as good as the first – job creation and increased economic growth in the area. The new and increased liquids and gas production coming from the development of shale reservoirs have not only been a boon in energy resources but have immensely helped the economy in job growth and economic benefits to regions, including business and government.

The development of shale reservoirs began in the early 1990s with the Barnett Field in the Fort Worth, TX area. The new technologies helping the development of shale reservoirs were horizontal drilling and better methods to “frack” or loosening the fuel from the reservoir. These two major developments have led to many other shale-based reservoirs developments in the U.S. and other countries. The ability to recover liquids and gaseous fuels from these reservoirs has opened a new era in U.S. fuel development.

The changes in fuel availability because of these developments are awesome. Production has been prolific and has dramatically revised the reserve outlook for liquids and gas. Natural gas reserves have increased more than ten-fold. At the turn of the century, planners were looking to build receiving facilities for liquefied natural gas (LNG) from foreign countries; now they’re looking at converting some of those to export facilities because of the large volumes of natural gas available in the U.S.

Liquids production as either crude oil or natural gas liquids has also risen, perhaps not as spectacularly but still significantly. Between the new shale- producing areas and others like offshore and increased supplies from Canada, energy independence for the U.S. is taking on a new color.

Adding to the Barnett development are such fields as Eagle Ford in West Texas, Bakken in the Dakotas and Montana, Marcellus in Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia and New York, Haynesville in Louisiana, Fayetteville in Arkansas, and a few others just now developing such as Utica in Ohio.

Some fields are in states that already have sizable oil and gas operations; others are in new areas and require considerable infrastructure. Even several of those existing plays are already in need more infrastructure. As a result, more and more people are needed and the economics is no longer confined to oil and gas production.

Various trade groups, government agencies, and others with an interest in the industry in recent months have particularly reviewed the growth from the shale-based developments. Some comments on these, based on the various reservoir areas, offer a good perspective of the importance of energy development.

Starting with the original development - the Barnett - some of the comments made by various sources include: “When all major categories of stimulus from Barnett Shale activity are summed, the result includes $5.2 billion in annual output and some 55,385 permanent jobs.” (Berry Group Study, 5/07).

From the Independent Producers’ Association of America (IPAA) report in November 2011: “The overall effects of the activity in the Barnett Shale are likely to be responsible for an average of more than 108,000 jobs and $10.4 billion in output per year through 2015.”