Through land leases and royalty payments, the company has created five millionaires already in Mt. Pleasant, Washington County, spokesman Matt Pitzarella said, and it expects to double current production from a gas processing plant in Chartiers by year's end.
Another producer, Atlas Energy Resources LLC, has more than doubled its local work force to around 200 in Smithfield, Fayette County, plus 75 at its headquarters in Moon.
"One thing about oil and gas: It's a very labor-intensive business so it impacts the economy in a much greater way than many other industries," President Richard D. Weber said.
Both companies, plus other gas producers, have created hundreds of jobs for companies that service the industry.
Texas-based Red Oak Water Transfer has 42 workers here so far, is moving into a new building in Hickory, Washington County and could hire 50 to 100 more employees in the next couple years, said Keith Ryals, operations manager.
Local businesses say the gas companies drive up their sales.
"They buy fuel. They buy lots of groceries," said Raymond Stockdale, who owns the 125-year-old Ruff Creek General Store store just off Interstate 79 in Greene County.
On an average night, 40 of the 256 rooms at the Holiday Inn Pittsburgh Airport in Moon are occupied by gas company workers or related contractors, said Craig Poole, the general manager. He runs a "Marcellus special" discount to build repeat business.
Richard Bortz Jr. said his family's Bortz Chevrolet Cadillac dealership in Waynesburg, Greene County, has sold around 25 pickup trucks to drilling companies over the last six months.
And Greg McElhaney put a shoe brush outside his Shelley's Pike Inn in Houston, Washington County, for drill rig workers to clean off boots muddied at well sites, as they stop in for meals.
Not that he's complaining. "With the economy the way it is, I didn't notice any bad economy," McElhaney said.
Kim Leonard can be reached via e-mail or at 412-380-5606.
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