2014 - -
Noble Energy made official its new regional headquarters at Southpointe as the Houston-based energy firm makes a big office commitment to match what it expects will be aggressive growth in the Marcellus Shale.
What started as an operation with not much more than a card table in the Pittsburgh region a little less than three years ago has now morphed into a 138,000-square-foot space in a new 208,000-square-foot building now under construction.
“We thought this was the premiere gas play in the United States,” said Noble Energy President and Chief Operating Officer David Stover, a Sarver native and Penn State grad. “In that two and a half years, nothing has changed our mind.”
Marcellus operations contributed 9 percent of Noble’s total sales volumes and expects production to grow by 46 percent.
Stover told an assembled crowd near the Southpointe project that Noble expects to employ nearly 200 people at Southpointe by the end of the year, a growing presence that will require a new building slated to open in 2015 that will allow the firm to grow to 400 to 450 people.
The building is going up right now, with crews of Rycon Construction erecting the building based on a design by Designstream Architectural Studio LLC.
After coming the region as part of a joint venture with Consol Energy Inc. (NYSE: CNX), Noble (NYSE: NBL) has now dedicated 20 percent of the company’s capital to its Marcellus holdings.
Noble’s formal announcement of a new regional office on a lease that was finalized in late 2013 was also used as a publicity opportunity for Washington County, which has another major oil and gas firm to support its claim as the energy capital of the East, the Marcellus Shale Coalition and Gov. Tom Corbett, who was also in attendance.
Acknowledging a lease deal between Noble and landlord Horizon Property Group was entirely private with no state assistance, Corbett touted the growth Pennsylvania has seen in jobs from the Marcellus Shale as well as in production.
Corbett noted Pennsylvania jumped from the fifth largest natural gas producer in the country to second in three years. He hopes to see Pennsylvania shoot to number one.
“I often say to my friend in Texas, Gov. Rick Perry, watch out,” said Corbett. “We’re coming after you.”
Noble is growing fast enough here that the company took a larger office lease than originally expected, said Rod Piatt, president of Horizon Properties, the developer of Southpointe II and Noble’s new building.
He said Noble originally expected to lease a little more than 100,000 square feet but opted to take another 30,000 square foot floor.
Noble has an expansion option for a fifth floor in the six-story building, he added. While Horizon is considering opening up the last remaining floor to other tenant leasing, Piatt said he doesn’t want to rush into commitments with any other companies yet in case Noble opts to eventually take the entire building.
“We’re kind of biding our time,” he said.*