Colleyville to consider first gas-well drilling permit

By AMAN BATHEJA

abatheja@star-telegram.com

Colleyville will consider its first permit application to drill a gas well in the city this month, about a year after most leasing activity in the area slowed down.

Fort Worth-based Titan Operating filed its application in August for a specific-use permit to drill on 53 acres at 7612 Pleasant Run Road. The property, owned by John Quenichet, is near the Colleyville-Southlake border.

Colleyville and Southlake require drilling companies to apply for a variance for drill sites within 1,000 feet of a home or other buildings. Some properties in south Southlake are about 900 feet from the Titan site, said Ron Ruthven, Colleyville’s community development director. But because the homes are in Southlake and the drill site is in Colleyville, the company does not have to apply for a variance, Ruthven said.

The application for a specific-use permit is scheduled to go before the Planning and Zoning Commission on Nov. 9. Colleyville residents who live near the site were recently mailed notices about the application and the meeting, Ruthven said.

Southlake officials have been notified about the application, and Southlake residents are welcome to voice concerns at the meeting, Ruthven said.

Colleyville had received no complaints or concerns about the location of the drill site as of Friday, city spokeswoman Mona Gandy said.

The application has the support of the owners of nearly 5,000 acres who leased their mineral rights to Titan through the Colleyville Area Mineral Rights Association, founder Grady Walker said.

"CAMRA is 100 percent behind them," Walker said. "They’ve continued to work with us. Really, for our coalition there’s been no hiccups whatsoever."

Titan President Mark Schumacher said the company expects to start drilling on the site next fall.

"We have other leases in Southlake that we’ll be seeking permits on in the future," Schumacher said.

There are no gas wells in Southlake, and the city has received no applications to drill one, spokeswoman Pilar Schank said Friday.

Drilling slowdown

Thousands of Colleyville property owners signed with Titan last year when the company was offering $25,000 signing bonuses. It drew the ire of some property owners when it abruptly discontinued its offer after a decline in natural gas prices.

Colleyville leased 248 acres of city land to Titan for a $25,000-an-acre bonus and 25.5 percent royalty.

Titan has leases in Arlington, Grand Prairie and unincorporated portions of Johnson County, Schumacher said. The company does not have any active wells in Tarrant County but has permits filed in other cities in the county, he said.

"Our company is bullish on the long-term prospects of natural gas, clean-burning, abundant and American," Schumacher said.

Along with bringing leasing to a halt, last year’s drop in natural gas prices slowed the drilling of wells in the Barnett Shale, said Gene Powell, publisher of the Barnett Shale Newsletter.

"We’ve had a huge drop in permits and also a huge drop in completed wells," Powell said. He guessed that there are as many as 650 wells in the region that have been drilled but where production won’t start until prices increase.

AMAN BATHEJA, 817-390-7695

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