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West Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania governors form shale gas agreement

CHARLESTON — Leaders in West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania will continue to work together to market the region for natural gas development.

Gov. Jim Justice announced the extension of the Tri-State Shale Coalition Agreement with Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf. The goal of the Tri-State agreement is to enhance regional cooperation and job growth through developing shale gas in the Appalachian Basin.

“Instead of competing, our three states are working together to promote the region as a center for shale-related manufacturing,” Justice said. “Shale gas presents an opportunity to spur economic growth beyond the wellhead. We are working to attract investors and downstream partners. We are encouraging chemicals and plastics manufacturers to come here, stay here and grow here with us in the Appalachian region.”

The Appalachians have long been recognized as a source for valuable resources such as natural gas. The states host several chemical feedstock and plastics manufacturing businesses.

The Tri-State Coalition participants said they intend to increase the region’s share of downstream-related business investments and the high-paying careers associated with them.

Officials with Shale Crescent USA are at the World Petrochemical Conference this week in Houston, Texas. Shale Crescent USA has been involved with natural gas development efforts in West Virginia, southeastern Ohio and southwestern Pennsylvania as well as in the Mid-Ohio Valley.

They released a report, “Benefits, Risks, and Estimated Project Cash Flows: Ethylene Project Located in the Shale Crescent USA versus the US Gulf Coast,” which said the Marcellus and Utica shale plays are some of the largest natural gas resources in the world and underlay the Shale Crescent USA region of Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

Early forecasts say this region will supply 37 percent of the nation’s natural gas production by 2040.

Officials with Shale Crescent USA are in Houston meeting with petrochemical company leaders and others to get them to consider this region for natural gas development, said Greg Kozera, director of marketing for Shale Crescent USA.

Kozera said they heard about the extension of the agreement while at the conference and welcomed the news.

“It is important all three states work together,” he said of the need to be competitive with the established petrochemical industry base in the Gulf of Mexico region of the country.

“We need to compete as a region,” he added.

If all three states work together on offering potential sites for a possible cracker facility, it saves time as company officials don’t have to go through the process of meeting state officials from three states, Kozera said. Once a company makes a decision on a potential site, the work can begin with state officials on deals that need to be worked out, he said.

Kozera said they have been meeting with corporate CEOs and other executives to talk about this region.

A site selector might pass on a property if it doesn’t match the list of requirements the company laid out. By talking with the CEOs, they are able to provide details on an area and how it might still be able to meet their needs.

“It gets people to look at us,” Kozera said. “It creates awareness.”

Under the coalition agreement, the states work together on issues in infrastructure systems, workforce development and marketing activities to better enable the region to harness the potential of Appalachian gas and natural gas liquids, officials said.

The agreement identifies key areas in which the states cooperate to grow the natural gas industry, including workforce development, infrastructure and research.

During annual Tri-State Shale summits, the government, educational and industry leaders from across the region meet to share information and best practices.

A strong upsurge of investment in the U.S. chemical industry can be attributed at least in part to the plentiful supply of natural gas, reports the American Chemistry Council. The domestic supply gives U.S. chemical manufacturers a competitive edge, resulting in increased investment, industry growth and jobs, the report said.

As of December 2017, the council reports, 317 projects cumulatively valued at $185 billion in capital investment have been announced.

The Memorandum of Understanding creating the Tri-State Shale Coalition was signed in 2015. The cooperative agreement renewed automatically each year. The new signatures continue the regional cooperation agreement through Dec. 31, 2021.

Representatives from public-private, economic development and philanthropic organizations such as Vision Shared of West Virginia, TeamNEO of Ohio, The Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation and the Regional Pittsburgh Alliance of Pennsylvania help support and guide the coalition’s efforts.

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