Study predicts 'manufacturing renaissance'

By Shane Hoover

 

CANTON — Unconventional drilling for oil and natural gas, such as that in Ohio’s Utica Shale, could be a major boost to the nation’s manufacturers during the next decade and a half. 

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Christopher Guith, vice president for policy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for 21st Century Energy, a sponsor of the study, compares the different sectors to dominos.

 

The first domino is exploration and drilling, also called the upstream sector. That is followed in succession by midstream sector pipelines and processing plants, then the petrochemical industry and finally, traditional manufacturing.

 

“We see this happening all in sequence,” Guith said. “Right now, we’re full steam in the upstream and starting on the midstream and we’re still a couple of years away from the petrochemical and then maybe five or six years from the beginning of the traditional manufacturing. But by 2020, it really all comes into force, and you see the full breadth of the renaissance.”