ESTEVAN — A retirement auction is going to bring an end to Rocket Sales and Rental Co.'s nearly six-decade run in the southeast oil patch.
The sale, run by Steffes Auctioneers, will run from June 18 at 8 a.m. until June 24 at 10 a.m. The auction will feature Rocket’s land and buildings, along with its vehicles, equipment inventory, shop tools and more.
Harry Moroz, who helped launch Rocket in 1967 and owns the business with his son Troy, said there hasn't been a lot of drilling in the oil patch, so he thought it was time to retire.
“This will be 59 years for me being in business here,” he said, adding it was a tough decision to retire.
Advancements in technology led to less drilling is taking place, he said, and most work is taking place off existing wells.
“I think it’s affecting everybody in the oil patch in this corner of the province. I keep checking the drilling licence reports, and there’s lots of stuff in the Kindersley area and Lloydminster, but not that much in southeast Saskatchewan,” Harry said.
They looked at selling the business, but opted for the auction route so they could sell everything at once.
Harry said he will miss the business, but he is looking forward to enjoying retirement. Troy added he’ll miss it as well, because he liked the “hands-on” work. During the peak years, it kept them busy.
Rocket Sales and Rental Co. was incorporated in 1967, Harry said, with Gerry Illerbrun as his partner. When the business first opened, it offered live pipe casing, tubing, and production equipment like treaters and tanks.
“We’d buy used tanks and sell them … but then we basically got out of the fitting business and live pipe and treaters, and we just concentrated on our concrete bases and bolted tank industry.”
In 1977, Rocket Sales was incorporated in North Dakota. Illerbrun moved to the U.S. to run the American operation because the oil and gas industry had slowed in southeast Saskatchewan.
Three other people worked for Rocket at time – Moroz's brother Ed, Craig McDonald and Matt Weinrauch – and they teamed up to purchase the Canadian operations in 1985.
“He stayed down in Williston, and we were manufacturing concrete bases, so that gave us an outlet into the Williston Basin for that end of our operation,” said Harry.
Rocket also imported bolted tanks from Trico Industries.
Like any other business, Rocket Sales and Rental has gone through its ups and downs, Harry said. They went through lean years but also had some very good times. At one point, it employed 20-25 people.
Since it started manufacturing concrete bases in 1977, the company poured 23,946 bases, which were shipped to southeast Saskatchewan, southwest Manitoba, Lloydminster, Kindersley and Swift Current, among other areas.
“Then we also exported them to the U.S. when Gerry was down there,” said Harry.
During the tank construction days, they were in northern areas of B.C. and Alberta in 1991. The final large tank was for Wapella Pipelines, a 10,000-barrel unit back in 2000.
From 1980-2013, Rocket Sales and Rental brought in sizes that ranged from 100 to 10,000 barrels.
The business has largely been Harry and Troy working out of the Estevan location on the Highway 39 East service road for the past couple of years. A couple of people have come in to help with the concrete bases and the welding.
Rocket Sales and Rental allowed Harry to meet a lot of people and make many friendships over the years, making it an “overwhelming experience”. Troy added he also enjoyed the people he met in the industry.
It was also very rewarding for them to work with each other. Troy bought into the company in 1993.
“He got to be my father, my friend and a business partner,” said Troy.
Harry is looking forward to enjoying retirement. He hopes to visit family and travel, but doesn’t have any grand plans. He has remained involved in the business on a daily basis in recent years.
“I’m usually down here at six o’clock in the morning, and with the auction, you have everything going here," Harry said.
Troy said he will move to Saskatoon and will find something to do in Saskatchewan’s largest city, but he’s not ready to retire just yet.
The last date for the business is June 24 when the auction closes, but Harry said it will likely take a while to clear out all of the equipment after the sale.
