MarkWest, Antero invest in future of Marcellus shale

While Gov. Tomblin and state economic development leaders continue to pursue a cracker plant or two, that doesn’t mean that our state isn’t benefiting greatly from the Marcellus gas boom.

Last week, two separate but related announcements were made that will have an immediate and long-term positive impact on our local economy, as well as job growth in North Central West Virginia.

First, Antero Resources announced that it will locate its corporate headquarters for Marcellus shale activity in Harrison County. Antero is currently the nation’s second largest Marcellus gas developer.

Second, MarkWest Energy Partners dedicated its first gas processing center in Doddridge County — with six more under construction statewide. MarkWest is the largest processor of natural gas and the largest fractionator of natural gas liquids in the Marcellus gas field.

Antero Resources will be a customer of the new processing plants. The two companies truly go hand-in-hand.

The corporate headquarters for Antero Resources’ Marcellus shale activity will be at White Oaks business park along I-79 in Bridgeport. Work already has begun on two buildings for Antero that are scheduled to open in July 2013.

Antero, with headquarters in Denver, had sold its assets in other states and virtually devoted its entire budget to West Virginia operations. The company will have spent more than $700 million to drill 90 horizontal wells in West Virginia in 2012. A total of $100 million of that will be spent drilling wells in Harrison and Doddridge counties.

The White Oaks business park is poised to become the center of oil and gas development in West Virginia. Counting Antero, four oil and gas companies will be located in the park: EQT Corp., MVE Corp. and Dominion have offices there now.

The business park was chosen because it has room to expand, as well as its location by Interstate 79 and W.Va. 279. One building at the office park will be devoted to field operations, while one will be devoted to land work, according to Antero officials.

The buildings will total 50,000 square feet, and the cost of construction is estimated to be about $16 million, according to Woody Thrasher, a partner in the White Oaks development. Thrasher said he views the move as a sign of the longevity of oil and gas activity in North Central West Virginia.

Antero currently employs 40 people in the Mountain State, while about 3,500 contractors are on the payroll, according to Alvyn Schopp, the company’s vice president and treasurer.

However, local jobs for contractors and field operations are expected to experience strong growth now that the initial wells are operational and the first processing plants are coming on-line. Of the 3,500 contractors working with Antero, about 2,400 live in West Virginia.

The company also plans to increase the number of drilling rigs — up from an average of 10 to 14 in 2013.

“I think we have something like 2,000 undrilled sites,” Schopp said. “We’ve got decades worth of inventory.”

MarkWest’s expansion in West Virginia will greatly increase the capacity to process natural gas.

Its first processing center can process 200 million standard cubic feet of gas per day, according to Jeremy Smith, area manager for MarkWest.

“By the end of next year, we should be at 600 million,” he said.

In 2013, MarkWest will add six more processing facilities in West Virginia — at Majorsville in Marshall County, Mobley in Wetzel County and Sherwood in Doddridge County.

Smith explained that as natural gas drilling grows in West Virginia, nearby processing centers shorten and simplify Marcellus Shale gas production. “We take in rich gas, and we extract the heavier hydrocarbons, propane and heavier product. Then we put the leaner gas back in the pipeline that goes to market,” Smith said.

MarkWest currently employs about 75 people in West Virginia. Each processing plant will add about 20-30 permanent jobs.

The economy of North Central West Virginia has weathered the storm of the Great Recession better than most. Our foundation in the health-care, high-tech, biometrics, aviation and aeronautics, higher-education and energy sectors has enabled our local economy to remain vibrant.

Now, it looks like development of the Marcellus Shale gas fields could be the catalyst to take us to the next level and provide the state with a very, very bright future.