By Paul Morden www.theobserver.ca The Observer
A new study has reaffirmed the major contribution the petrochemical industry makes to the local economy.
Prepared for the Sarnia- Lambton Economic Partnership and released Wednesday at its annual meeting, the report by H. James Lee and Associates concludes the industry contributes $24 billion annually in materials and services to the economy.
George Mallay, general manager of the economic partnership, said the report also notes the industry is responsible for 4,900 direct and 23,500 indirect jobs. “So about one-third of the local population relies on the industry,” Mallay said.
“The first thing it told us is we need to celebrate the core industry more. It’s still important, very important.”
The report gives the partnership and the local community ammunition as it lobbies for government support for investment in Sarnia-Lambton, Mallay said.
“It shows the economic contribution and the importance of the industry to the local economy and to the Ontario economy.”
Mallay said the study also points to local opportunities from the use of natural gas from shale as an industry feed stock.
Nova is currently working with Buckeye Pipelines to develop a shale natural gas pipeline to Sarnia that would “help improve the economics of the complex here,” Mallay said.
The study found “there potentially could be $375 million to $520 million in direct annual benefits to the local economy if we could get shale gas coming here. Now we’ll have to do a lot of work to make that happen,” Mallay said.
A study on the local manufacturing, machine shop and engineering sector was also released Wednesday.
It notes the local group of companies employ a large number of workers and offer world class expertise, Mallay said.
“But there appears to be a significant dependancy on the local economy, selling to local companies, and not as much exporting of products and services as there could be,” he said.
“We need to be able to create new products and we need to be able to create new services, because markets do change.”
Observer Article ID# 2638292
Posted in: Headlines