Utica Supply Chain Firms Seek API Certification
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- Six companies from the five-county region, as well as one from Painesville and another from Akron, want to know what it takes to become certified and emerge as a major player in the oil and gas supply chain.
Nine representatives from these eight companies have signed on to take the American Petroleum Institute's API Spec Q1 Training, a two-day course designed to give companies a better understanding of the industry's quality-assurance requirements.
"It's geared toward manufacturers and refurbishment companies -- companies that have any physical process into the oil and gas industry," says Eric Planey, vice president, international business attraction for the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber.
The classes are scheduled for today and tomorrow at the Holiday Inn-Boardman and will be conducted by Ed Durante, president of Texas International Engineering Consultants, Planey said. The cost is $1,600 for the two-day session.
"It's an introduction to what API is and why API is important," Planey said. It also will touch upon the similarities and differences between API certification and other credentials such as ISO: 9000.
Durante, who teaches courses in the certification process in Texas, agreed to teach the two-day session in the Mahoning Valley as part of the chamber's Youngstown Ohio Utica & Natural Gas, or Young, series.
About 18 months ago, Planey recalled, he asked several oilfield service companies about the requirements necessary for companies in this region to become part of the manufacturing supply chain. "They said, straight out, you have to be API certified."
A study conducted by Cleveland State University last year showed that more than $6 billion worth of infrastructure, midstream development, drilling and completion work could result as oil and gas exploration in Ohio's Utica shale ramps up.
Steel manufacturers, water companies and construction companies all stand to benefit as drilling in the play continues, said Cleveland State's Andrew Thomas, who helped write the study.
"We expect a total employment of about 65,000," Thomas said during a guest lecture Monday at Youngstown State University. Field development alone should bring in about 28,000 more jobs, he reported. "A lot of these are going to be in the Youngstown area."
Wholesale trades, the transportation and trucking industry will also feel the impact of the industry, he noted.
API is to the oil and gas industry what ISO:9000 is to the auto industry, Planey noted. API certification assures that companies meet the quality standards that the market demands.
Planey and the chamber worked out an arrangement where Durante would come to the Mahoning Valley and teach the course instead of company representatives heading to Houston.
The course examines general and documentation requirements relative to developing an API quality management system, planning and review, product realization, and API requirements for measurement, analysis and improvement.
"If they started the process immediately following this course, there's a good likelihood they could get certified by the end of the year," Planey said.
Copyright 2013 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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