Ohio University students match drillers with services

ATHENS, Ohio - Ohio University students have developed a database to link shale gas drillers with Ohio companies that can provide supplies and services.

Students from used a $100,000 rural business enterprise grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to develop the project.

The project focused on 12 eastern and southeastern Ohio counties, stretching from Athens County north to Tuscarawas and Jefferson counties -- although the database also includes Ohio companies from outside that geographic area that could serve the oil and gas industry.

"Suppliers in this sector are constantly trying to find ways to make connections and prove their capabilities," Scott Miller, director of energy and environmental programs at the Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs, told The Athens Messenger . "On the other side, large oil and gas firms are trying to shore up their understanding of their Ohio-based supply networks."

Companies have been added to the database in three categories: manufacturers, operational services (such as site developers and maintenance-related companies) and other services such as restaurants and hotels. Included are more than 700 companies -- more than half of them located within the original 12-county area.

Companies that want to be part of the database fill out a survey to create a profile. The database, which is online at www.ohioshaleenergy.com, has a map that oil and gas companies can use to find suppliers in a particular region of the state. They can then search for information using the company's name.

Although there are companies in Ohio that have traditionally provided supplies and services to oil and gas drillers, horizontal shale drilling involves much larger operations and is just getting started in Ohio.

"This is a whole new oil and gas industry," Miller said. "It's going to take us some time to get up to speed."

Although the original project focused on the 12 counties, the next step will be take the database statewide. The school is forming a partnership with the Ohio Shale Coalition.

The drilling boom in Ohio has come about because of advances in hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, that have made enormous reserves of gas accessible, leading to more jobs and profits and lower energy costs.

But there are also concerns about pollution. The gas is pulled from the ground through a process in which large volumes of water, plus sand and chemicals, are injected deep underground to break rock apart and free the gas.