Study: energy boom means big benefits for families, economy

Staff report

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A new report released Wednesday that details the economic activity generated by the oil and gas industry, from unconventional drilling and refining to petrochemical supplies and manufacturing, said the benefits will double in the next decade for the economy and American families.

The report released by the global economic research and consulting firm IHS Global Insight expands on its earlier studies and estimates that the oil and gas value chain, or all those industries and positions affected by the oil and gas industry, will support 3.9 million jobs by 2025, including 515,000 manufacturing jobs.

According to the IHS study, the value chain supported 2.1 million jobs last year alone.

“Oil and natural gas have been pillars of the recovery, and other sectors are now coming back stronger and faster because of affordable and abundant energy and raw materials,” said Kyle Isakower, vice president for policy and economic analysis at the American Petroleum Institute, which released a statement about the study.

The study predicts that the unconventional oil and gas industry, or those involved in onshore horizontal hydraulic fracturing, will steadily increase U.S. competitiveness by con- tributing $180 billion to the U.S. trade balance by 2022.

Nationwide, IHS said disposable household income increased by $1,200 in 2012 as a result of the industry and it projects the oil and gas industry could add as much as $2,000 a year to family incomes with a stake in the business by 2015.

With sales-tax receipts and other fees up in areas where shale-gas drilling is currently dense, IHS found the industry generated $74 billion in government revenues last year and it expects that number to rise to $138 billion by 2025.

Moreover, the study said the industry contributed $284 billion to U.S. Gross Domestic Product, which is broad measure of goods and services produced across the economy.

Last year, IHS released a widely quoted and contested study that said the oil and gas industry has created 38,000 direct and indirect jobs in Ohio.