Baker Hughes has been in Barnsdall since they bought the Petrolite Corp. facility in 1997. Talks began in 1996 until the final agreement was disclosed in February 1997. For the amount of 693 million dollars in stock, Baker Hughes bought Petrolite. The reason behind the acquisition was the overseas contacts in the oil and gas industry that Petrolite had in it's possession. The polymers plant in Barnsdall was only additional fodder for them to play with as they wished. In those years from 1996, Baker Hughes has quietly placing pressure against it's only bargaining unit in the company. Baker Hughes purposely downgraded it's work force in 1996 by forcing retirement on many of the employees in order to begin regaining it's monetary value of the acquisition. Baker Hughes was not a polymers company and has never boasted on having the Barnsdall plant as part of it's arsenal of oil and gas properties. The fact is, Baker Hughes has always found the Barnsdall facility to be the armpit of the corporation because of the two things stated earlier. Barnsdall was a polymers plant and they had a union. Both of which have never had a place in the organization. Baker Hughes has continually promised upgrading the facility over the years. Only spending money when it was absolutely necessary, the Barnsdall facility was slowly and rarely upgraded with new technology. When it was upgraded, it wasn't efficient enough to make the money spent on a project to pay off quickly or it bought used equipment that was in need of repair all the time which would cause downtime, which in their eyes cost them dollars. Another aspect of the prospect of selling comes from the lack of a safety program in operations. I could talk on this subject a lot but it would be considered a breech in my signed disclosure letter with Baker Hughes. In all, Baker Hughes has been wanting to sell for a while but have never come across the right buyer to pawn the Barnsdall plant off to.
This past year, the time seemed to be right for Baker Hughes to sell. With the oil and gas futures looking good, I feel Baker Hughes was in a position to find a buyer for it's Barnsdall facility and rid itself from the thorn in it's side that it has been stuck with since 1997. Baker Hughes has never needed the Barnsdall plant. In fact, it has tried to pawn off the place a few times over the years but nothing ever came of it. This time might be different. Weatherford Int., a global competitor with Baker Hughes may have interest in the Barnsdall plant. It's unknown as to why they may want it but there are clear indications that something is going on at Barnsdall. Weatherford has had over 250 acquisitions over the past 13 years, each with it's own strategic aim for it's company. Weatherford is a diverse company with it's main job being the oil and gas industry with many smaller divisions that cater to other outlets in the oil industry. Could polymers be part of their new outlook? Is it possible they will make a bid for the Barnsdall facility? It's hard to say, but within the year, something may be happening in Barnsdall at the Baker Hughes plant.
