According to virtualpressoffice.com, the value of the U. S fracking fluid market grew from $18.4 billion in 2012 to $26 billion in 2013 and is expected to hit $37.3 billion in 2018. With the resurgence of domestic energy production across the nation, for the first time ever analysts say the U. S. will lead in the production of oil in 2017 and begin exporting natural gas by the 2020s. The oil coming from the Bakken Shale under western North Dakota has reached nearly 750,000 barrels a day and is expected to hit two million a day in 6 years. This gigantic population shift of workers to the oilfields has led to the production of thousands of rooms for modular workforce housing units (reported here April 23, 2014), as well as for modular classrooms, offices and homes.

Similarly, the Marcellus Shale buried below Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Virginia and West Virginia is the largest U. S. gas repository, exceeding 270 trillion cubic feet. The number of active wells is expected to rise from 1,500 to 5,000 in the coming years. As MHProNews.com has posted, UMH Properties has been actively acquiring manufactured housing communities in the area recently, although modular workforce housing is also shipping in. ##

(Photo credit: Andrea Johnson/minotdailynews.com–Modular classrooms at Minot State University just east of the Bakken in Minot, ND)