Baker Hughes Inc., Houston, (NYSE: BHI) has lifted the curtain on a new service center in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, to support activity in the Marcellus shale.
            

“We are moving quickly and it is there to support the activity in the Marcellus,” says Gene Shiels, assistant director of investor relations for Baker Hughes. “We think over the next couple of years, there’s going to be a bit of development up there, so we want to be ahead of the curve.”
            

Shiels says that Baker Hughes’ plans call for the building of a 60,000-square-foot service center on 20 acres which will employ about 175 people within three to five years. He says the facility will have space for workshops, offices, storage and serving drilling equipment.
            

In the second phase of the project, a Baker Hughes subsidiary, Baker Petrolite, will use five acres for warehousing, offices and storages.
            

Founded in 1972, Baker Hughes has two divisions—drilling and evaluation, and completion and production. JAS