Ohio’s Energy Industry Attracts $70B in Investment

COLUMBUS, Ohio– Ohio has emerged as a national leader in energy, largely due to the state’s shale industry, which has contributed to the attraction of over $70 billion in new private sector energy investments in Ohio alone, reports JobsOhio.

Much of this growth can be attributed to Ohio’s proximity to the Utica and Marcellus shale formations, which offer an abundance of low-cost natural gas, natural gas liquids and oils, and account for more than 85% of U.S. shale gas production growth since 2011.

Additionally, the formations have helped Ohio’s shale gas industry lead the nation in growth for four consecutive years, according to the JobsOhio Shale Investment Report, compiled by Cleveland State University’s Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs. As many as 12,000 high-paying jobs in the state have directly resulted from this industry, and this figure exceeds 100,000 when indirect jobs such as welders, fabricators and logistical workers are included.

“When it comes to energy, no region, not even the Gulf, can compete with Ohio,” Dana Saucier Jr., senior managing director of energy and chemicals at JobsOhio, said in a statement. “With natural gas prices at a cost lower than nearly anywhere else in the world, abundant fresh water from the Ohio River and other sources, an integrated infrastructure allowing for national and global market access, and many energy companies along the supply chain that call the state home, there is tremendous potential to further grow capital investment in Ohio in the energy industry.”

JobsOhio says the billions in investments have helped to develop clean electric generating plants, creating high-paying construction jobs and permanent jobs, and generating significant additional tax revenue to be reinvested in the communities. For example:

• South Field Energy recently announced a $1.3 billion investment to construct a 1,182 megawatt, low-carbon electric generating facility in Columbiana County. The new plant marks the company’s second major project in Ohio and will create approximately 1,000 construction jobs.
• The Carroll County Energy Facility helped fund a long-desired new school for Carrollton Exempted Village Schools through additional tax generation. These taxes will pay the school $1.3 million annually for 30 years to assist with the cost.
• Thai-based PTTGC America and South Korean-based Daelim are still evaluating the feasibility of building a multibillion-dollar, world-scale petrochemical complex in Belmont County. If constructed, the project would create hundreds of permanent jobs and thousands of construction jobs in the Ohio Valley. This project would utilize regional and cost-advantaged ethane feedstock, as outlined in the Shale Crescent USA IHS study.

JobsOhio is a private, nonprofit corporation designed to drive job creation and new capital investment in Ohio through business attraction, retention and expansion efforts. As such, it works with six regional partners across Ohio: Appalachian Partnership for Economic Growth, Columbus 2020, Dayton Development Coalition, REDI Cincinnati, Regional Growth Partnership and Team NEO. Learn more at www.jobsohio.com.

Pictured at top: Carroll County Energy plant.