Marcellus Shale: Wheatland Tube Plans $11.4 Million Expansion in Ohio
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Wheatland Tube Co., a division of the John Maneely Co., plans to pump $11.4 million into its plant in Howland to help increase the production of pipe used in the exploration of natural gas in the Marcellus and Utica shale, officials said Monday.
The Ohio Tax Credit Authority approved a job-creation tax credit of 40% over six years to help the project, which is expected to add at least 20 jobs.
Walter Good, vice president for economic development at the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber, said Wheatland Tube’s expansion here is evidence that this region is poised to lure significant new business from shale exploration.
“The company’s local growth further solidifies Youngstown-Warren as the hot spot in Ohio for companies that are investing to build products used in the search for natural gas in the Marcellus and Utica shale fields,” Good said. “In fact, it’s safe to say that this area is becoming a North American hub for this activity.”
Wheatland wants to step up production of its oil country tubular goods in its bid to increase market share in the natural gas-exploration market.
For the last three years, large energy companies have descended on western Pennsylvania and made use of horizontal drilling to tap into the Marcellus shale, a rock formation a mile beneath the surface. The shale holds vast deposits of methane gas that could be converted to energy.
These energy companies are also looking into parts of Ohio atop the Utica shale, which might hold as much natural gas as the Marcellus.
V&M Star’s operation in Youngstown announced last year it would construct a new, $650 million plant here to manufacture OCTG pipe used in drilling operations. That project is expected to create 400 full-time jobs. In addition, TMK Ipsco moved into an abandoned Delphi Corp. building in Brookfield and converted it into a threading operation for pipe bound for drillers in the shale.
Sarah Boyarko, manager of business development at the Regional Chamber, said the new jobs would add another $800,000 in payroll annually. “Such well-paying employment opportunities are always good to see,” she remarked.
The tax credit granted by the state has an estimated value of $54,000.
Chamber President and CEO Thomas Humphries called the project “really good news” for the Mahoning Valley. “It’s another piece of the Marcellus-Utica shale initiative that we’ve seen going on for the last 18 months to two years in the Valley,” he said. “We’ll see a sizeable capital investment there.”
Source: Business Journal Daily
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