Natural Gas Industry Update

Opportunities within the Industry
The Marcellus Shale play in Western PA and surrounding states is providing the largest natural gas harvest opportunity in the U.S. in decades.  Recent estimates indicate The Marcellus Shale measures more than 95,000 square miles, or 60.8 million acres.  In early 2008, geologists surprised everyone with estimates that the Marcellus might contain more than 500 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. Using some of the same horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing methods that had previously been applied in the Barnett Shale of Texas, perhaps 10% of that gas (50 trillion cubic feet) might be recoverable. That volume of natural gas would be enough to supply the entire United States for about two years and have a wellhead value of about one trillion dollars.  Accordingly, the entire region, with Pittsburgh at its epicenter, stands to explode economically, very similar to the growth Houston saw as the oil industry took hold in that region some decades ago.

Throughout most of its extent, the Marcellus is nearly a mile or more below the surface.  These great depths make the Marcellus Formation a very expensive target. Successful wells must yield large volumes of gas to pay for the drilling costs that can easily exceed a million dollars for a traditional vertical well and much more for a horizontal well with hydraulic fracturing.

"This region will become self-sufficient in terms of energy. There's enough natural gas in the Marcellus to power this state for 180 years," said Kent Moors, director of Duquesne University's Energy Policy Research Group.

This rush to develop the Marcellus region is already leading to an influx of new companies in Western Pennsylvania to take advantage of low-cost energy and a boom in blue-collar jobs. 

Talent Management
High-paying jobs available today in Pennsylvania's gas industry are expected to multiply in the future, meeting the needs of gas companies' efforts to increase drilling and production across the state.  In addition to all of the jobs that go into directly operating gas drilling rigs, opportunities are also available in a number of professional and skilled areas, including:

• Engineering and surveying
• Construction and earthmoving
• Equipment manufacturing, service and repair
• Environmental permitting
• Water transport/wastewater management
• Well servicing
• General labor
• Legal, accounting and other professional services

The gas industry and its education and training partners are working to bring interested students into these fields, as the need is significant and will continue for many years, even decades, as the Marcellus Shale resource is fully developed.

The Search Partner
In this demanding environment, companies will be well-served with a search partner that

• Understands the industry and can discern talent in key areas
• Can represent its client in the marketplace in identifying the very best candidates and attracting their attention to the client's opportunity
• Is able to see the "big picture" relative to its client's longer term talent needs, who can define the culture of the client company and assess candidates accordingly
• Has the flexibility & capability to support the client in projecting future needs, in anticipating talent acquisition needs, engaging in "talent mapping" projects, providing insight regarding market trends.
• Is fleet afoot...there is talent available and companies are ramping up quickly, so an effective Search Partner will be one that can move quickly, identifying talent, coordinating interviews, selling Pittsburgh and it's surrounding communities,  and closing deals with successful candidates promptly.
  

In-house Expertise
Coleman Search Consulting is pleased to count Bill Thomas as one of our Search Consultants.  Bill has spent the last decade sharply focused on serving the oil and gas industry from his offices in Houston.  Bill has relocated to Pittsburgh and continues to enjoy a thriving HR consulting and search practice in both the Houston and Pittsburgh areas.  Click here for Bill's bio.

Searches recently completed by the Coleman Search Consulting Team for Energy sector related companies -

• General Manager, Operations Executive Positions
• Finance — multiple Executive-level assignments
• Engineering Management positions
• Human Resources — VP & Director
• Marketing & Sales Management roles
• Construction Management positions
• Environmental, Health & Safety Engineering & Management roles