Local Natural Gas Business: BJ Services Suspends Operations, Keane Has a New Name
LAMAR TOWNSHIP – The natural gas industry continues to see turbulence and change in Clinton County, what a local economic official calls a “roller coaster.”
New developments include word on Monday that BJ Services has suspended operations at its sprawling facility on Heckman’s Road in Lamar Township. And the nearby Keane Group operation has a new name, NexTier, part of NexTier Oilfield Solutions.
Clinton County Economic Partnership chief executive officer Mike Flanagan confirmed that BJ Services is shut down and operations suspended. He said, “The industry certainly is a roller coaster ride.”
BJ Services had announced in August of 2018 it was reopening the former Baker Hughes facility. It had transferred employees from its Clarksburg, WV operation to staff its 38-acre Lamar Township facility. Previous owner Baker Hughes had shut down operations in 2016.
Meanwhile the name “NexTier” is now up on the former Keane Group building nearby. Flanagan said, “We have been told that NexTier essentially kept all the Keane employees and they continue to work sites across the state and have somewhere around 200 employees.” He said that number is down a bit from previous levels “but nevertheless a good amount in this tough market.”
NexTier had announced last October a merger between C&J Energy Services, Inc. and Keane Group, Inc.; creating what NexTier called “a new leading well completion and production services company.”
Keane had taken over the former Trican operation in 2016. Calgary-based Trican Well Services Ltd. had closed in March of 2016 on the sale of its US pressure pumping business to Keane Group, a Texas-based, privately held company.
