Companies are building new pipelines
In the last six months, companies have announced at least $3.5 billion worth of projects in Ohio related to shale oil and gas energy, an indication that the industry is beginning to mature in the state.
Most of the investment is for pipelines and processing facilities.
A list of projects was compiled by Bricker & Eckler, a Columbus law firm. Including the $3.5 billion, shale development in the state has spurred $22.3 billion worth of projects since 2010.
Much of the recent investment is for the “pipeline spider web,” said Matt Warnock, a lawyer who worked on the list.
“Trying to get capacity on existing pipelines in near impossible,” he said. As a result, companies are building new pipelines that connect to an existing system in a way that resembles a spider web.
Two bits of fine print: These are announced plans, which does not mean they will get built. Also, the total spending does not include projects for which no cost estimate has been disclosed, which are likely to amount to more than $1 billion each, Warnock said.