HANCOCK COUNTY, W.Va. — More than 100 people could be working for a natural gas company, a subsidiary of Total Energy Services Inc. out of Canada, in West Virginia’s Northern Panhandle within the next two years.
Weirton will be the site for the first U.S. manufacturing operation for Bidell Gas Compression, according to a Friday announcement.
“We’ve got jobs coming and this is just the tip of the iceberg. We want lots and lots and lots more,” said Governor Jim Justice.
Bidell has plans to repurpose 100,000 square feet of space at a former ArcelorMittal machine shop known as the Central Machine Building.
It’s envisioned as a site for the future fabrication, sale, lease and servicing of natural gas compression equipment for customers in the U.S., including those working in the Marcellus and Utica shales, along with internationally.
This year, Justice reported Bidell planned to hire 60 people for manufacturing positions. The number of employees was projected to climb to 130 by 2019.
As of Friday, it was not immediately clear when hiring at Bidell would start.
The West Virginia Development Office and the West Virginia Economic Development Authority worked with the Business Development Corporation of the Northern Panhandle to purchase the property from Mingo Junction Steelworks, LLC.
Additional funding and services to support the company’s employee training activities will be provided through the Governor’s Guaranteed Work Force Program, according to information from the West Virginia Department of Commerce.
Also supplying financial and technical support were the Hancock County Commission, City of Weirton, United States Environmental Protection Agency and Brooke-Hancock-Jefferson Regional Planning Commission.
Total Energy Services is based in Calgary.
“There’s a lot of ways to pass around a lot of kudos, but it’s a happy day. It’s good stuff,” Governor Justice said on Friday’s MetroNews “Talkline.”