There is no doubt about it. The Muncy Hughesville area is seeing more and more expansion of the Marcellus Shale project as operations continue to flow into the eastern part of Lycoming County.

A Houston based firm, BJ Services Company recently announced its plans to locate its tubing and casing running operations of the Marcellus Shale fields in Muncy.

The company has experience with every shale play operator on a variety of horizontal and lateral wells in difficult terrain under severe winter weather conditions according to a news release.

The company launched its Marcellus Shale expansion program in West Virginia in August 2008 and later moved to a larger facility in West Virginia.

Now they will be based in Muncy completing a series of operations due to an increased demand for casing and tubing running services in the region. This base in Muncy will support operations in Pennsylvania and New York and will house a full complement of state of the art equipment according to Neal Kimblar, North Esst operations manager.

“We are now fully operable in West Virginia and Pennsylvania,” said Kenny Watt, BJ Services Vice President of tubular and completion assembly services. “With the two bases, we can mobilize on short notice, saving time and money for customers.”

Heading upstate, James R. Ladlee, Clinton County’s Penn State Extension Director and Community Resource and Economic Development Educator was passing through Lycoming County on his way to New York State for a moratorium on drilling into the Marcellus and Utica Shales. “The Joint Landowners Coalition of New York still maintains a high level of activity to help educate its members and legislative officials about the potential of Shale gas development,” said Ladlee.

On March 18, Mr. Larry Michael, Executive Director of Workforce and Economic Development at Penn College and Ladlee were asked to discuss the findings of the Marcellus Shale Workforce Needs Assessment, the 14 county assessment for the northern tier and central Pennsylvania.

“Given the moratorium on drilling, the level of interest in Marcellus was truly impressive. In several conversations it was very clear New York Coalition members were also very concerned about potential New York jobs being lost to Pennsylvania (i.e. company headquarters) and not Texas or Oklahoma as you might hear in Pennsylvania,” he added.

“Anecdotally, on the trip to Binghamton, I had the opportunity to sit outside a small convenience store near Hughesville, Lycoming County at about 6:00 am. In the 20 minutes I was at the store roughly 40 pipeline trucks, representing seven different companies stopped at the store too. Of the 40 trucks roughly 30% were Pennsylvania contractors,” observed Ladlee.

The Pennsylvania College of Technology will be hosting a two day Marcellus Career expo of North Central Pennsylvania on April 30 from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Community Arts Center. Information will be provided about industry job opportunities as well as education and training, according to Jeffrey Lorson, industrial technology specialist with the college’s Marcellus Shale and Education Training Center.

On Saturday, May 1, the college will give the community the chance to meet employers operating in the north central part of Pennsylvania. Positions will range from office staff to engineering staff according to Lorson.

IF YOU GO

What: Marcellus Career Expo of North Central Pennsylvania

Where: Community Arts Center, downtown Williamsport

When: April 30 from 1 to 4 p.m. and May 1 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.