The 2010 Eastern Oil & Gas Conference and Trade show is just around the corner.  Kessel will be there and we invite you to stop by booth #164 to see us. 

What’s New?

Kessel is supplying compressor buildings with solutions for sound and accessibility options for servicing equipment.

In addition, we offer concrete services for a full range of needs.

Please click on the link below to get the complete schedule.  We hope to see you there! 

2010 Eastern Oil & Gas Conference and Trade Show

Monroeville Convention Center

209 Mall Boulevard

Monroeville, PA 15146

Tuesday August 31, 2010  9 am – 5 pm

Wednesday September 1, 2010  9 am – 12 noon

http://www.pogam.org/show/2010_Eastern_Oil_&_Gas_Conference_and_Show_flyer.pdf

The PIOGA Summer Meeting will be held on Tuesday June 8, 2010 at the Seven Springs Resort in Champion, PA.   

Kessel Construction will be there with a booth to promote their services to the industry. Currently, we are introducing a light gauge, tubular steel framed building with metal roof & walls that is finding a nice fit for compressor stations in the Marcellus play.  This product is competitively priced and has the flexibility for various sizes.  In addition, we are able to work with our customers for sound control in these compressor buildings.

The booths are open from 1 pm to 8 pm.  We hope to see you there.

The Associated and Builders Contractors of America has posted their latest construction back log indicator. This is a relatively new key economic indicator for the construction industry. It measures construction dollar spending outside of the other key economic indicator of “new home” construction or residential construction. This measure is key to signaling potential economic recovery and growth as it focuses on Commercial and Industrial projects key to the economy showing recovery.

It should be noted that this is only an indicator… your results may vary.

The good news for those of us in the Northeast USA is that the backlog/ activity appears to be strongest in our marketplace.

Currently, we are seeing a good amount of activity around the Marcellus Shale play and traditional industries in our marketplace such as powder metal and timber seem to be chugging along. However, due to their most recent reduced production levels, capacity does not appear to be a problem.

We look forward to the Marcellus Play opportunities for our area as they bring gas exploration and construction to production and the midstream operations. This should provide opportunities in the midstream for pipeline construction, compressor stations, pump and metering shelters etc.

www.abc.org/ backlog indicator

Carbone of America in St. Marys, PA recently awarded a new building project to Kessel Construction.  This project is for a 31,250 square foot pre-engineered metal building system that will be used for the industrial sector.  We are excited to start this project in the near future and are looking forward to building for Carbone again.

Steel prices have increased an average of 6% in the past few weeks.  This includes pre-engineered metal building systems, rebar, and raw steel.  All indications are that the cost of steel may become more volatile during 2010.  Steel plants are raising prices to cover costs of running furnaces that aren’t producing steel.  China is rumored to be buying up coke mines so that they can control the cost of the raw materials. 

Although we at Kessel Construction don’t anticipate a return to the extreme volatility of pricing in 2008, we do see a trend of increasing prices.  Pre-planning of upcoming projects will help in locking in prices before they increase.

The date for one of the most exciting Expo's to hit the area after the Kinzua Outdoor & Travel Show is quickly coming upon us.

The Natural Gas Expo; McKean, Potter & Cameron Counties will be held on Wednesday March 17th and Thursday March 18th at the Gospel Tabernacle in Coudersport, PA.

Admission is FREE and anyone wanting to learn more about the industry should plan to attend.

This will be an event to bring students & educators to the industries service providers to understand the needs of this growing and dynamic industry.

Wednesday 03/17 will be full of students form area high school Tech programs as well as local higher level learning institutions (Pitt Bradford & Penn Tech College). There will be seminars repeated all day long in regards to the educational & occupational needs of the industry.

Thursday 03/18 is slated for business to business activities. Some of the largest players in the Marcellus Play & Natural Gas Industry will be there:

- Pennsylvania General Energy

- East Resources

- Dresser Pipe Works

- Gas Field Specialists

- Universal Well Services

- Fastenal

to name just of few of the developers, pipeline contractors, drillers and associated service providers to the industry.

There will be seminars repeated all day long with topics on "How to get engaged with the Gas Industry", Natural Gas Well Drilling, Water Resources of the industry.

Kessel Construction will be there with a double booth to promote their services to the industry. Currently, we are introducing a light gauge, tubular steel framed building with metal roof & walls that is finding a nice fit for "soft set" compressor stations in the Marcellus play.  This product is competitively priced and features maintenance free exterior walls and roof. Additionally, for sound absorption they have blanket insulation.

A unique outcome from the event organizers of the EXPO is a full color directory of all the service providers in the area.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Gospel Tabernacle, ROute 6, Coudersport

www.natural-gas-expo.com

Additional signs that the economy is moving in the right direction;

major foreign companies looking to buy our resources. The kind of resources to produce big stuff like… steel and energy.

Coal is known as two types;

- metallurgic- used to heat generate the high heat/ energy needed for steel production

- thermal- used by energy plants to produce energy/ electricity

The most recent is real close to home in the Central Appalachian region. An Indian company is looking to buy a US coal company in order to control a key resource needed to produce coal. The same firm is a major producer of steel to global market.

This comes after hearing recently that foreign interests are also looking to buy “Coke “ operations a key raw material in making steel.

Let’s hope that these are good signs for the economy as a key material for industry production and growth, steel is being produced. Additionally, the raw materials and resources to produce steel and energy are seeing activity.

Winter is here, and with winter comes snow.  Heavy snows or repeated snow storms can cause excessive packed snow or ice on a pre-engineered metal building roof which can impose unusual and excessive loads on any building structure.  Blowing and drifting snow as well as rain on snow can also produce significant and potentially dangerous load increases on a building.  An excessive accumulation of ice, snow or snow mixed with rain can cause a building to be loaded beyond its design capacity which creates a risk of building damage or collapse.

Be aware of warning signs inside a building that may indicate excessive snow or ice accumulation, including purlin deflection, the popping of ceiling tiles in dropped ceilings, and unusual noises.  If any of these situations occur, you should contact Kessel Construction immediately for assistance.  As a general contractor, we are able to assist you in remedying these situations.  If a roof is in danger of collapsing, the building should be evacuated immediately.

There are certain procedures for proper snow and ice removal from a building that must be followed.  In addition, if there is any building damage or collapse due to excessive snow there are measures that need to be followed as well.  Butler Manufacturing Company has specific protocols to adhere to should you encounter either of these scenarios.

Most importantly, safety should be number one on everyone’s list when dealing with excessive snow buildup on a roof.

As 2009 comes ro a close there are a lot of industrial and commercial businesses that are breathing a collective sigh of relief as they have survived the worst economic conditions in arguably 30 years.

The interesting times are still ahead. It seems most businesses in the area kept saying lets get through 2009, let's get through Q1 of 2010, it's gotta get better by Q2 2010. Anyone got a crystal ball?

What's going to happen here is anyone's guess. What does seem to be a consensus is that things have gotten as bad as they can and should start getting better.

One bright spot in the Northern Tier of PA and Southern Tier of NY is the Marcellus Shale Gas play. Should this prove to be as big as all the indicators suggest, there will be a lot of activity and peripheral businesses will grow and/ or be developed. One recent development that brought more positive news to the area was the ANF ruling in favor or Minard Run Oil and additional plaintiffs which allows Oil & Gas development in the Allegany National Forest to the holders of land leaes amd mineral rights and other permissions to the subsurface development of the valuable gas and minerals below. Basically, this gave back to the developers the rights they previously held prior to an earlier court ruling preventing them from developing the commodities below the surface.

The first two quarters of 2010 should still hold plenty of opportunity for businesses that want to build with depressed materials pricing. Currently, steel is still flat, concrete suppliers are indicating that while prices jumped from 2008 to 2009, they are holding 2009 pricing going into to 2010. Unfortunately, while the economy chugged along last year at a sluggish pace many suppliers did not replenish inventories due to the poor economic outlook. Due to this fact many commodities are at very low levels and as demand comes back the suppliers are looking to get more for thier products; - steel - lumber - insulation - membrane roofing products etc

Currently, many of the same folks that thought the first quarter of 2010 held so much promise are now wondering what it was that was going to magically change and bring better times. The indicators are still not there just yet.