GLM Industries LP has become the latest in the long line of operations impacted by the economic woes in the oil patch.
The company has shut down its Battleford operation, it was confirmed this past week, though it is described as a temporary closure until the market improves.
The company has had a presence in the town since 1980.
About 98 per cent of what GLM does is oil field storage, building carbon steel storage tanks used in the oil patch.
But with activity in the oil patch slowing to a halt due to the crash in prices, demand for tanks has dried up.
Dalton Wiens, general manager of GLM Industries LP based in Nisku, Alta., confirmed the shutdown and indicated this was not unusual in this situation.
“From the stories I’ve been told it’s happened three or four times before. When the oil patch takes a tumble like it’s doing right now, GLM has to close down and tighten the belt and wait for the market to come back,” said Wiens in speaking to the News-Optimist.
Wiens cannot say when the 5th Avenue location in Battleford will open again.
“We really have no idea. That depends completely on our customers,” he said. And their return depends on the price of oil.
“You can ask any three people and get four different opinions,” said Wiens. “My personal opinion is the price of oil has to be $75 to $80 a barrel before our customers start spending money again. And once it gets busy we’re able to reopen at that point, but that could be three months, it could be a year. We just don’t know.”
In any event, the company is preparing for a lengthy shutdown. A little over 60 employees have been affected and Wiens said those employees were given termination notices, not layoff notices, as the company isn’t confident the employees can be called back to work within 60 days.
The impacted employees are being given eight weeks working notice and are being given time to go out on interviews and line up other employment.
Additional cuts have also been made throughout GLM, which has locations in Nisku and Calgary.
It’s a situation seen throughout Alberta and Saskatchewan as well, with closures and job losses, but GLM was able to hold out longer than most.
“From what I understand, GLM was one of the last companies standing,” said Wiens.
“A lot of other companies had made cuts two or three months ago. GLM had a solid backlog that allowed us to keep operating for this long. Unfortunately, we haven’t been getting new POs [purchase orders] to keep the backlog up so we have to do this closure.”
