After 16 years in business, Superior Well Services has closed up shop in Bradford.
The move happened Tuesday, according to Dennis Smith, director of corporate development for Nabors Industries, parent company of Superior. Nabors purchased Superior Well in 2010.
“Unfortunately, business is a little slow,” Smith said. “We had to consolidate some services. I know there’s a number of facilities around the country that are being closed and merged into other operations. I know Bradford is one.”
Smith said he didn’t have specific details about the Bradford operation, but said some employees will be laid off and some may be moved to other Nabors locations.
And Smith didn’t rule out a return to Bradford in the future.
“If the markets pick up again we could reopen,” he said. “Things have slowed down in a number of areas. It’s not the kind of thing we like to do.”
Current conditions are the main cause of the company’s decision.
“Natural gas is pretty weak and people have pulled back activity,” Smith said. “We hung on as long as we could.”
On Tuesday, Nabors announced its second quarter operating results had fallen below estimates, citing adverse weather conditions and intense competition as impacting “pressure pumping” — or hydrofracking — in the U.S. and Canada.
“That’s what we do out of Bradford,” Smith said, explaining the company had to cut back and combine hydrofracking operations to improve efficiency.
The equipment that had been housed in Bradford is being relocated to Black Lick, Pa.
John Vleminckx, who started Superior Well in Bradford in 1997 and was still working for the company in sales, said the entire Bradford operation was closed down abruptly on Tuesday.
“It just kills my heart,” he said. “It’s an incredible shame. They just up and left.”
Vleminckx said there were 67 people, not including administration, who worked for the Bradford facility.
“There’s some good people there,” he said. “It takes a special person to work in this industry — 18-hour days, six or seven days a week. I’m 80 years old and I still work in it.”
While several people have lost their jobs, a representative of the McKean County CareerLink office said Wednesday that only a few displaced workers had been in so far.
Superior Well has locations through the U.S., operating in at least 20 states.
According to Superior’s website, the company “is a growing oilfield services company operating in many of the major oil and natural gas producing regions of the United States. We provide a wide range of wellsite solutions to oil and natural gas companies, primarily technical pumping services and down-hole surveying services.”
Superior Well Services was located on High Street in Bradford.
