Carbo Ceramics to ‘mothball’ McIntyre plant

Houston, Texas-based Carbo Ceramics Inc. announced Wednesday it will “mothball” its proppant manufacturing plant in McIntyre.

During the company’s fourth-quarter conference call, CEO Gary Kolstad said, “Carbo began slowing production earlier this year to assist managing cash and inventory levels,” according to a news release.

The company actions were “in direct response to a depressed commodity price for oil,” which ended up having a negative impact for ceramic proppant, the release stated.

“Unfortunately, we have not seen improvement in demand for ceramic proppant, nor do we anticipate any change in the near term,” Kolstad said in the release. “With this outlook in mind, we have decided to mothball our facility in McIntyre, Georgia, until such time as market conditions warrant bringing it back online.

The release does not state how many employees are impacted by the closure.

This story was originally published March 11, 2015 at 6:38 PM with the headline "Carbo Ceramics to ‘mothball’ McIntyre plant ."