Ohio's Shale Boom Getting Closer

Only a fraction of Ohio's horizontal drilling wells are producing to this point, meaning the state's shale boom is still on the horizon.

That was the highlight of one of the presentation's at this year's Ohio Oil & Gas Expo at the IX Center in Cleveland. Dave Kirven and Brodie Haer represented the Stark County Oil & Gas Partnership at the expo.

According to Peter MacKenzie of the Ohio Oil & Gas Association, most of the wells are waiting for pipelines and other facilities to be completed. MacKenzie's comments were included in an article published on Cleveland.com.

More than 200 exhibitors and 1,500 people attended the expo. Complete coverage can be found here: Ohio shale gas boom closer than many realize.

Stark County Oil & Gas Partnership Website Updated

The website for the Stark County Oil & Gas Partnership has been updated and redesigned as 2014 approaches.

Many of the former elements of the site were retained, and a number of new features were added to make the user's experience simpler. They include larger photo galleries, a more concise and easy-to-navigate member directory, and a calendar feature. The home page layout was adjusted to help users see site content at a glance.

Site design was completed by Delamater Media Group, a North Canton public relations, social media and communications company. DMG also handles blogging and social media for the partnership.

The website can be viewed at www.choosestark.com.

Oil & Gas Contributes to Hotel Boom

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Hotels are popping up everywhere, a sign that the Stark County economy is hopping. According to a report in the Canton Repository, there are five hotels in the planning or construction phases in Stark County. Four are in the Belden Village area, and another is in Hartville.

Smaller communities are also looking to welcome new hotels, and much of the growth is due to the demand from the oil and gas industry.

It's an exciting development for our region.

Click here to read more about the countywide building boom.

Gas Boom Still in the Future

As close as we are in the Partnership to what is going on in the oil and gas industry, we see many people who grow impatient with what they think is the slow pace of progress, particularly with the development of the Utica Shale.

However, experts throughout the industry continue to point to strong signs that the growth we've all anticipated and expected is still ahead. Now that has been confirmed by a study released by Cleveland State University.

Iryna Lendel, assistant director for economic development at the Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs, spoke at a shale conference in Akron on Sept. 24.

Click here for coverage in the Akron Beacon Journal.

4,000 New Oil & Gas Jobs This Year

A report on the Motley Fool website indicates that "oil and gas companies operating in the Marcellus and Utica Shale plan to hire at least 4,000 new employees this year."

Four thousand! That's the kind of news we can all get excited about, and here at the Partnership we intend to work to bring our share of oil and gas jobs right here to Stark County.

The article goes on to indicate that last year 96 percent of new oil and gas jobs in the Marcellus and Utica were filled by local candidates.

Click here to read the article at The Motley Fool website.