EM’s editors are hearing quite a bit lately about new sales opportunities in the oil and gas market related to oil fracking technologies that can profitably squeeze more oil or gas out of deposits that previous weren’t economical. We first started to pick up on the excitement when several respondents to last year’s Top 200 listing said new oil and gas business had helped produce double-digit sales gains for them. And at last year’s North Central Electrical League trade show in Minneapolis, executives from several electrical companies at the show said business was booming for them in North Dakota’s Bakken region.
News of additional growth in this market niche hit this week, with reports of the construction of a $400 million oil refinery set to begin on tribal lands in North Dakota; progress in the planning for a $3.4 billion plant in Maryland to export liquefied natural gas overseas; and a report in the Washington Post that several European manufacturers are looking at building plants in the United States because natural gas is so much cheaper in the United States.
According to a blog posting at Fargo-Moorhead InfoForum, the new North Dakota refinery will have the capacity to convert 20,000 barrels per day of Bakken crude oil into diesel fuel, propane and naphtha.
The concept of European manufacturers building plants in the United States because of the huge difference in natural gas prices between Europe and the United States is fascinating. According the Washington Post article, in Feb. 2013, natural gas prices were $3.32 per million BTU in the United States compared to $11.77 million BTU in Europe, and $16.66 per million BTU in Japan.
Then there was the chatter at a recent rep council that I helped moderate last month for a large manufacturer. While reviewing potential sales opportunities down the road, they said solar and wind were basically “so yesterday,” and that the oil and gas market will be where it’s at over the next few years. We will be reporting on the market in depth over the next few months. If you would like to discuss how new opportunities in the oil and gas market have already impacted your business, give me a shout at 913-967-1743 or send me an e-mail at [email protected].