U.S. Midwest Set for More than $5.5 Billion of Project Kickoffs in First-Quarter 2015

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--With North Dakota's Bakken Shale poised to be a longstanding boon to U.S. industrial growth, the U.S. Midwest region is bursting with activity. According to Industrial Info's project database, about $5.56 billion of industrial projects are set to kick off in the region in the first quarter of 2015. About two-thirds of the total is attributed to three industries: Oil & Gas Pipelines, Power and Industrial Manufacturing.

Click on the image at right for a graph detailing planned first-quarter 2015 project kickoffs in the U.S. Midwest region by industry.

The Midwest region includes Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska and the Dakotas. For more information on the dramatic growth of the Bakken Shale, see November 26, 2014, article - Study: North Dakota Crude-Oil Production Could Double by 2019.

The Oil & Gas Pipeline Industry leads with 22 projects totaling $1.67 billion in projected spending, one of the largest of which is Hess Corporations' (NYSE:HES) (New York, New York) $100 million construction of the Hawkeye Field oil and gas processing facility in Keene, North Dakota. The project involves installing 10 Caterpillar 3500 series and 10 Ariel engine-driven gas-compressor packages, along with three NGL pumps, to replace the older Hawkeye facility and send oil and gas to the company's Tioga gas plant in northwestern North Dakota. The project is expected to be completed toward the end of the year.

The Power Industry is not far behind with about $1.02 billion in projects expected to kick off this quarter, including Dakota Plains Energy's (Wayzata, Minnesota) $230 million construction of the 99-megawatt (MW) Campbell County Windfarm in Pollock, South Dakota. The first phase of the project will see the installation of 50 Vestas V90-model wind turbine generators, each with a capacity of 2MW. Fagen Engineering (Granite Falls, Minnesota) is serving as the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor on the project, which is expected to be completed in September.

The largest project in the Industrial Manufacturing Industry's $984 million lineup is GAF Building Materials Corporation's (Wayne, New Jersey) construction of a $150 million roofing shingles manufacturing plant in Moberly, Missouri. The 400,000-square-foot addition will include manufacturing, warehouse, office and administration space. WorleyParsons Limited (North Sydney, New South Wales) is performing construction management services for the project, which is expected to be completed toward the middle of 2016.

Of the remaining industries, the Alternative Fuels Industry has the largest single project: Dakota Gasification Company's (Beulah, North Dakota) $402 million construction of a urea unit at the Great Plains Synfuels Plant in Beulah. The new unit is expected to produce 1,100 metric tonnes per day of urea, utilizing the existing ammonia unit, producing about 250,000 tonnes per as a feedstock. IHI E&C International Corporation (Houston, Texas) is performing engineering services.

A little more than half of the $5.56 billion total investment value for projects expected to kick off in the U.S. Midwest region in the first quarter is attached to projects currently in the engineering stages. More than $2.4 billion worth are in the planning stages, where plenty of factors could increase, decrease or totally eliminate the expected spending, while $305 million worth already are in the early construction stages.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, three offices in North America and 10 international offices, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle™, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities.