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Shale Conference Draws Hundreds In Cambridge
By: WOUB Staff Writer
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Cambridge was the "center of the shale universe, at least for today," said one presenter at an oil and gas drilling conference held in Guernsey County on Wednesday.
Hundreds of Ohioans – including state and national officials – were in attendance at the Ohio Shale Energy Conference, held at the Pritchard-Laughlin Civic Center.
Area residents and business owners gathered to hear industry representatives and drilling experts address concerns relevant to the oil and gas boom in Ohio and, in particularly, in the southeastern quadrant of the state.
Michael Levett, Senior Director of CDC Development Solutions, said that "a job will buy a house, but contracts will build an economy," encouraging local governments and businesses to support the skills and infrastucture needed to put Ohioans in the perfect position for jobs created by an influx of drilling activity.
And those in attendance got a forecast, of sorts, of the phase that the state is currently in, where drilling's concerned.
Matt Sheppard, a representative for Chesapeake Energy, gave an indicator of what the drilling boom has already done for Ohio, citing $2 billion in lease-hold agreements and a half-billion dollars on supplies already spent in the state by his company alone.