On this week's episode of the Business Intelligence Report, Journal Record editor Russell Ray discusses Chickasaw Nation Industries's recent investment, which may benefit both the environment and the oil and gas industry in Oklahoma.
FULL TRANSCRIPT
Richard Bassett: You're listening to the Business Intelligence Report, a weekly conversation about business news in Oklahoma. I'm Richard Bassett. With me is Russell Ray, editor of The Journal Record. Thanks for talking with me today, Russell.
Russell Ray: It's good to be here Richard. Thanks for having me.
Bassett: So there's a recent story from The Journal Record's 2019 Tribal Economic Impact issue I'd like to discuss. The story, written by Molly Fleming, talks about a water treatment system that would recycle produced water into clean, usable hydraulic fracturing water. Molly writes that, around 15 years ago, the Chickasaw Nation purchased a Siemens manufacturing facility in Marietta for its company, Innovation One. Three years ago, they merged that company with its new investment, Filtra-Systems. Tell us a little bit about Filtra-Systems.
Ray: Well, Filtra-Systems is a unit of Chickasaw Nation Industries and what they do is they manufacture custom engineered filtration and separation products for several industries. The company has had a lot of success and is now expanding its facility in Marietta at a cost of $2 million. The expansion will allow the manufacturer to build bigger filtration systems for a range of applications including oil and gas production.
Bassett: So currently the company employs about 45 people. Will this investment by CNI bring any more jobs to the state?
Ray: Well, because of the expansion the number of jobs and the facility could grow to as high as 90. Those additional workers would work on the company's latest innovation which is a mobile water treatment system known as Scout.
Bassett: How would the oil and gas industry here in Oklahoma use Scout?
Ray: Well, Scout is a turnkey system that converts produced water from oil and gas wells into water that could be used for hydraulic fracturing. So instead of using fresh water supplies, oil and gas producers can use recycled water from their own operations in their production process. It essentially would eliminate the need to transport water supplies and thus lower the cost of oil and gas production in the state.
Bassett: Molly also wrote in the article that Scout could have benefits that reach beyond the oil and gas industry. She specifically mentions it may draw interest from military bases?
Ray: That's right. We were told it could be used at remote military sites to convert unsafe river water into grey water for a range of uses on military bases and other remote military sites.
Bassett: So what's the larger economic impact of Filtra and its water treatment system in Oklahoma?
Ray: Well, commerce officials tell us the success of one company can translate to other successful ventures in the state. So by sharing the success story of Filtra-Systems the hope is that other similar successes will follow suit.
Bassett: Russell Ray is the editor of The Journal Record. Thanks for your time today, Russell.
Ray: My pleasure, Richard. Thank you.
Bassett: KGOU and The Journal Record collaborate each week on the Business Intelligence Report. You can follow us both on social media. We're on Facebook and Twitter @journalrecord and @kgounews. You'll find links to the stories we discussed during this episode at and JournalRecord.com. And this conversation along with previous episodes of the Business Intelligence Report are available on our website, KGOU.org. While you're there you can check out other features and podcasts produced by KGOU and our StateImpact reporting team. For KGOU and the Business Intelligence Report, I'm Richard Bassett.
The Business Intelligence Report is a collaborative news project between KGOU and The Journal Record.
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