Benefits from oil boom producing jobs beyond the oil patch

Fuel Fix:

From steel pipe manufacturers to companies that produce sand and gravel, the U.S. shale boom is buoying businesses far removed from the oil and gas fields, a new study finds.

These companies are benefiting from the huge investments needed to explore, produce, process and transport oil and gas unlocked from previously inaccessible dense rock formations through advances in hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling, according to the findings by Houston-based energy analyst firm IHS.

The boom has been most generous to companies working in states with the most oil and gas activity, but the economic boost has also trickled down to steel-makers and machine tool manufacturers based in regions with no production, the report said.

And companies with no experience in the energy industry are thriving, with businesses being created to meet the industry’s demand for new services, such as supplies for water and sand which are injected underground during hydraulic fracturing to crack and prop open rock formations to extract oil and gas.

In 2012, unconventional production supported 524,000 jobs in industries that support the the energy industry, either directly or indirectly, the report found. These supply chain industries are expected to continue to add jobs in the coming decade, with IHS predicting that the shale boom will sustain 757,000 jobs in 2025.

Beyond job creation, a surge of new drilling activity is pumping money back into the economy, IHS said, estimating that supply chain companies will contribute more than $16 billion in government revenues next year, up from $13 billion in 2012.
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This si more evidence that the anti energy left led by people like President Obama and Sen. Ed Markey were just dead wrong when they said that drilling would not create significant job growth and revenue to the government.  It could be producing even more if they would quit blocking development on federal controlled sites.   Their policy of artificial scarcity is holding back the economy.