Natural gas export boom means thousands of jobs for Texas

Fox News:

The energy boom that has North Dakota boasting the country’s lowest unemployment rate — and skyrocketing real estate prices — could soon do the same for the Gulf Coast.

Dozens of facilities are set to sprout up along the Louisiana and Texas coasts to liquefy natural gas from shale formations as far away as Pennsylvania and Ohio for export around the world. The energy boom, which is turning the U.S. into a net exporter, could drive liquefaction capacity to an eight-fold increase in the next five years alone, experts say. That could mean hundreds of thousands of new jobs along the Gulf Coast, by some estimates.

"From an economic development standpoint, it is going to be huge," said Ragan Dickens, spokesman for the Louisiana Oil and Gas Association. "It is incredibly exciting to know the region will see this influx of new jobs."

More than 110 liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities now operate in the U.S., some exporting the super-cooled liquid, while others turn natural gas into an energy form that occupies up to 600 times less space than natural gas for vehicle fuel or industrial use. Worldwide, LNG trade is expected to more than double by 2040, according to the Energy Information Administration.

Up to a dozen long-term deals, each worth billions of dollars, have been signed by American natural gas producers with companies in China, Japan, Taiwan, Spain, France and Chile, according to Reuters. The federal Energy Department has authorized companies to export up to 8.5 billion cubic feet per day of liquefied natural gas, about 13 percent of current daily production. Given the entrenched oil and gas industry, access to shipping and regional resources, the Gulf Coast is set to become the epicenter of the coming liquefaction boom.

One market research firm, Industrial Info Resources, predicts $64 billion will be spent to build at least seven LNG facilities on the Gulf Coast in coming years. The massive-scale construction could even strain the skilled labor force, according to IIR Executive Vice President Michael Bergen.

But other experts said demand for skilled workers to fill high-paying jobs is a problem the region can handle — happily.
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There is much more.

The numbers are staggering, but Texas officials and union trainers are already working on supplying a trained labor pool.  This is in addition to other manufacturing jobs related to the shale gas boom for making chemicals used in product development.  This is creating a new industrial revolution.