GlobalPittsburgh's Role in Creating International Business Opportunities for Pittsburgh Region Highlighted in Article

GlobalPittsburgh's role in creating international business opportunities for local companies and organizations, including two energy consulting jobs for a local college professor, was highlighted in a recent article in the Pittsburgh Business Times.

The article titled "Firms Eyeing Overseas Shale Opportunities" by reporter Anya Litvak published Oct. 5, 2012 describes how expertise gained in the local Marcellus shale industry can lead to business and commercial opportunities in other parts of the world where shale gas is under development.

"Pittsburgh-based companies that have successfully wedged their offerings into the Marcellus supply chain are likely to find opportunities abroad in countries just beginning the shale game," Litvak writes.

She quotes Gail Shrott, director of GlobalPittsburgh's international leaders program, who explains how GlobalPittsburgh recently has hosted leaders from several countries interested in learning more about shale gas exploration, including Poland, Morocco, France, Canada and Australia.

"Once the delegations leave, they take with them business cards from local companies working in the Marcellus," the article reads. "Shrott’s hope is that connections persist and turn into business opportunities.

"They already have for some. Kent Moors, a professor at Duquesne University and a Scholar in Residence at its Institute for Energy and the Environment, got two consulting contracts with foreign governments following meeting with delegations here. As an adviser to Poland, which is thought to have the largest shale reserves in Europe, Moors sees tremendous opportunities for western Pennsylvania companies to export their services to countries eager to tap their domestic fuel and become less dependent on Russia’s exports."

The article describes how "[l]ocal companies with specialized shale expertise and high-end technical products stand the best chance of competing for shale business abroad," and quotes Steven Murray, a Pittsburgh-based senior international trade specialist with the U.S. Commercial Service.

The article also mentions potential global business opportunities for several other local companies, including MarkWest Energy Partners, Epiphany Solar Water Systems, and Consol Energy.

GlobalPittsburgh hosts several hundred visiting international leaders every year, and is paying closer attention to the continuing economic benefits created by those visits in the form of ongoing business and academic partnerships.

For more information on becoming a resource for visiting delegations, please contact Gail Shrott at 412-392-4513 or gshrott@globalpittsburgh.org.

Business Times subscribers can read the full article at http://bit.ly/RblrZN.