Baker Hughes in Lamar Township: Locked Up and Shutdown

MACKEYVILLE — Baker Hughes’ three year run as a regional gas field service provider is over, at least for the time being.

Therecord-online has learned the Houston-based company has closed its sprawling facility at the Clinton County Economic Partnership Business Park in Lamar Township.

Sources tell therecord-online only a few maintenance workers remain at the site and the last day was Wednesday for Baker Hughes’ district manager Phil Urlacher. A visit to the site today found the front door locked and no sign of activity on the premises, hundreds of various pieces of equipment sitting idle.

Urlacher had been brought into central Pennsylvania from his previous position at a Baker Hughes facility in the western part of the state and oversaw construction of the Lamar Township facility which saw a November 2012 open house followed by a startup that winter.

The facility employed several hundred people but a year ago was affected by the downturn in the price of natural gas and curtailed natural gas exploration/development. In March of 2015 35 local employees were let go and another 90 transferred to Clarksburg, WV.

Baker Hughes itself is involved in a buyout from oil industry giant Halliburton Company. That $34.6 billion transaction had first been announced in December of 2014. Therecord-online is awaiting a response to a call today to Baker Hughes headquarters in Houston relative to the Lamar Township site and its future.