Washington County energy services company eyes growth in '17 and beyond

Paul Gough
Pittsburgh Business Times

HydroEdge Solutions, which provides turnkey water services for the oil and gas industry, is planning to hire more than 20 employees by the end of the year to accommodate its growth.

The company, which is based in McMurray and has a yard in Eighty Four, designs, develops and operates temporary water lines for hydraulic fracturing operations in the Marcellus and Utica Shales. It has 92 employees, up from three when it was started in 2013. Its clients include some of the biggest names in the industry, including EQT Corp. (NYSE: EQT), CNX Gas Co., Statoil and EdgeMarc Energy.

HydroEdge completed $8 million in debt financing that includes a $5 million one-year term loan and a $3 million revolving line of credit that will be used to grow operations as well as working capital and capital expenditures.

The company employs all types of workers, from field technicians who run pumps and other equipment all the way up to petroleum engineers. The new employees will go through the company's extensive training and development program, HydroEdge CEO Matt Brewer said.

"We have a strong team, we've got a strong balance sheet and a desire to grow," Brewer said. "We're going to let our customers and the market dictate how quickly."

The growth prospects are looking bright: HydroEdge CEO Matt Brewer said that after a strong 2013 and 2014, the company, like the rest of the natural gas industry, suffered a slowdown in 2015 and 2016. But improvement began to occur on both the balance sheet and bottom line in the beginning of 2017, and Brewer said that each month has been better than the last in 2017, and 2018 is looking good, too. The privately held company will likely see its revenue up 67 percent to about $13.2 million and $2.7 million in EBITDA.