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Trumbull approves selling water to oil company
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
The Trumbull County commissioners have approved a 2-year agreement that allows oil company Halcon Resources to buy up to 200,000 gallons of water per day from the county’s Southeast Water District.
Halcon is expected to use the water right away at a well it is planning to drill at the intersection of Warren-Sharon Road and Scoville North Road in Vienna Township.
Rex Fee, executive director of the Trumbull County Sanitary Engineer’s Office, and Jack Simon of the Trumbull County Highway Engineer’s Office said Halcon plans to pipe the water from a location on Warren-Sharon Road about 300 feet to the drilling site at Warren-Sharon and Scoville North roads.
Fee said drilling companies have asked to purchase more than 1 million gallons of water per day for drilling operations, but the county’s water system would not be able to accommodate that amount.
The 200,000 was considered to be a safe amount to sell without affecting existing customers, Fee said.
The cost to Halcon will be $10 per 1,000 gallons, which is the standard bulk rate. The rate ordinary Trumbull County customers pay is $7.76 per 1,000 gallons.
Fee said Ohio law prevents his office from charging an amount that exceeds the cost of producing the water and operating the facilities that treat it, so the county won’t be profiting from the sales. Halcon is creating a collection area that will hold 6.8 million gallons of water, and the water from the county will collect there so that Halcon has all of the necessary water when it needs it, Simon said.
Halcon is expecting to drill at the Warren Township well, known as the “Avalon well,” in the next couple of weeks, Simon said.
Trumbull County commissioners previously approved a road-use and maintenance agreement with Halcon for the Avalon well. It calls for upgrade of 2,774 feet of Scoville North and 506 feet of Warren- Sharon Road.
Commissioners also approved a road-use and maintenance agreement Thursday with Hacon for a well it plans to drill on Layer Road in Warren Township close to Kibler Toot Road in the next two to three weeks. Halcon is making road improvements and setting up the drilling pad and will re-evaluate the roads after drilling is complete to determine what additional road work will be needed, Simon said.
The Halcon wells in Vienna and Warren township well are horizontal wells with hydraulic fracturing.