During Colleyville City Council's pre-council meeting on Jan. 17, city staff advised the council that Titan Operating's plans for fracture wells at the city's first natural gas drill site would not comply with the city's ordinances. However, Titan recently notified the city that it intends to follow all city regulations, which will allow TItan to begin fracking wells at the 7504 Pleasant Run Road drill site as early as Jan. 31.
The Fort Worth-based natural gas company drilled seven gas wells at the Pleasant Run Road site last year. The next step would to begin hydraulic fracturing or "fracking," pumping a mixture of water, sand and chemical additives into the wells to fracture the shale formations and recover natural gas.
The city's ordinance allows Titan to perform fracking operations for a maximum of 11 days. If Titan begins operations as planned on Jan. 31, then the company cannot continue fracking after Feb. 10.
Titan previously requested to use approximately 3.1 million gallons of the city's water, to perform flowback operations 24 hours a day as part of the fracturing process, and to allow venting or open flaring of gas.
However, the city currently has existing water restrictions in place. The city's ordinances also limits flowback operations during daytime hours and prohibit open flaring of gas at any time.
"Titan Operating is working with the City of Colleyville and will operate within the provisions of the approved ordinance governing the Trinity site," said Chris Hammack, vice president of operations, in an email.