UT: World Leader in Global Energy Business Announces Expansion into Utah

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Fiberspar Corporation and the Governor's Office of Economic Development (GOED) recently announced plans to create at least 276 new full-time Utah jobs. Fiberspar is the leading supplier of spoolable composite reinforced pipelines, having installed more than 25 million feet of the patented spoolable pipe between 2000 and 2010.

"Utah continues to be one of the nation's job creation hotspots," said Governor Gary R. Herbert, "and we are so pleased to add Fiberspar, a world leader in both the energy and composite industries. Today's announcement underscores that Utah is both dynamic and business friendly."

Composite materials are fast becoming one of Utah's marquee industries. Utah now boasts the ability to assemble a jetliner from nose to tail, thanks to the complete composite supply chain that is in place in Utah. In recent months, companies including ITT Composites, Boeing and ATK Aerospace Systems have all announced relocations or expansions in Utah. Now, with Fiberspar, a leading composite manufacturer in the oil and gas industry, Utah adds an important component to its composite and energy industry clusters.

"We are excited to expand our business in Utah with this new manufacturing facility. The Rocky Mountain region has a growing oil and gas industry. Locating a Fiberspar manufacturing facility in Utah will allow us to leverage the growing number of composite material and technology companies located in the state, while allowing us to meet the needs of our oil and gas producing customers," said Peter A. Quigley, Fiberspar's President & CEO.

Mr. Quigley founded Fiberspar in 1986, and by 1995 the company had more than 10 million feet of patented high-strength tubing in use in sporting goods applications. The company's products have been used to win the America's Cup sailing championship, as well as National Hockey League scoring titles. In 1996, Fiberspar acquired all of the intellectual property relating to Conoco's novel composite material spoolable pipe manufacturing technology. In 2000, the company sold its sporting goods division to focus solely on supplying composite spoolable pipe to the oil and gas industry. Over the past decade, Fiberspar has become the leading supplier to the energy sector of spoolable pipe used in the production of natural gas and oil.

The new full-time positions created by Fiberspar will have average wages in excess of 125 percent of the average county wage, including full health benefits. Estimated new state wages will be in excess of $80 million over the 10-year life of the agreement with the state. The company expects to spend over $23 million in capital investment and will pay in excess of $7.3 million in new state taxes over the 10 years.

The GOED board approved a single-taxpayer, post-performance tax credit incentive for Fiberspar in the amount of $1,474,900, based on the company hiring at least 276 employees over 10 years. The post-performance tax credit will be payable from new corporate income, wage and payroll, and sales taxes paid by the company over the same period.