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Study projects 65,680 jobs related to Ohio fracking
By Marc Kovac
COLUMBUS
Nearly 66,000 Ohioans will be involved in shale oil and gas production and related jobs in two years, with the industry pumping billions into the economy as a result.
That’s according to a new study released Tuesday by the Ohio Shale Coalition, an effort of the Ohio Chamber of Commerce.
The authors say the findings are “very conservative.”
Ed Hill, dean of the College of Urban Affairs at Cleveland State University, said the direct impact to Ohio in gross product — the economic impact that stays in the state — is projected at $4.8 billion by 2014.
“That’s not a small number,” he said. “That is the equivalent of an increase in the entire state’s gross product of 1 percent. Now, while 1 percent may not seem large to you, please realize that from 1997 to 2010, the average growth rate in gross state product in the state of Ohio has been 0.6 percent.”
He added, “This really has the potential of being transformational.”
The study is the latest to attempt to put some specific dollar and job-creation totals to the state’s emerging horizontal hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, industry, which involves pumping large volumes of water, sand and chemicals into deep underground shale formations to extract oil and gas.
The findings contrast with an earlier study conducted on behalf of the Ohio Oil and Gas Energy Education Program, which projected 200,000 jobs and $34 billion in oil and gas exploration, development and related industry investments by 2015.
“Both studies clearly show that expanded crude-oil and natural-gas development has tremendous potential to jump-start Ohio’s economy and bring a significant number of job opportunities to workers throughout the state,” said Rhonda Reda, executive director of the Ohio Oil and Gas Energy Education Program.
The new Ohio chamber study estimates more than $9.6 billion in increased oil and gas production by 2014; authors expect drilling activity to increase over the next couple of decades.
“These wells will produce probably for 20 to 30 years,” said Andrew Thomas, an executive-in-residence at CSU. “Each one of these wells takes up to six months to drill. It’s a labor- intensive and capital- intensive industry that’s going to probably be here for another 20 to 30 years drilling at this rate of 1,000-plus wells a year so long as prices are able to support that type of activity.”
Douglas Southgate, co-director of OSU’s Subsurface Energy Resource Center, added, “There’s still lots and lots of fossil fuels down there. ... This is more like a fossil-fuel factory than a deposit as we conventionally think of these things.”
The findings come with some caveats.
For example, the report pinpoints 65,680 jobs directly connected to oil and gas production, but those include new jobs and existing ones that will shift their focus to the industry.