Rangely’s BTI Services closes; eight lose jobs

RANGELY I Oil and gas fishing and rental company BTI Services closed its Rangely office this week, laying off eight employees Monday morning and removing equipment from its lease space on River Road this week.
Efforts to reach BTI’s human resources office in Houston, Texas, by press time were unsuccessful, but a BTI manager who asked not to be named said the location has been in decline for some time and that the decision to shut down probably should have been made months ago.
Employees came to work Monday morning to the news that they had a severance package but no job.
Operations manager Todd Norton, who has been with fishing and rental companies at this location for six and a half years, said he didn’t know what was next for him and his family.
“I live across the mountain (in Fruita), and I commute every day,” he said. “So I may look (for jobs) on the other side.”
Norton said he knew the company’s business in the area had been “somewhat declining,” but that it was still “somewhat surprising” to learn he and fellow employees were without jobs.
In 2008, longtime Rangely resident Frank Huitt sold oil and gas service company KR Fishing and Rental to Complete Production Services, with Huitt’s company retaining its name under Grand Junction’s R&W Rental Supplies.
Superior Energy Services purchased Complete Production in 2012, and, last fall, KR Fishing and Rental officially became BTI Services, a division of Superior.
BTI Services has 16 locations in eight other states. Rangely was its only Colorado office.