FORT LUPTON — Not long ago, oil and gas giant Halliburton dropped hints it would leave southwest Weld County for Greeley or Wyoming.
But Halliburton is staying put, planning a $20 million facility in Fort Lupton that will add more than 300 jobs.
The move also could pave the way for a 3,000-acre “energy corridor” between Fort Lupton and Brighton, where new companies could locate, officials say.
“We are just thrilled Halliburton is staying and it could mean bringing other oil companies into the area,” said Fort Lupton Mayor Tommy Holton.
Halliburton was swayed by several factors, including the massive Niobrara shale formation, which stretches from southwest Weld County into Wyoming and east to Nebraska.
Companies like Halliburton are drawing both oil and gas from deep within the formation by using horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, Holton said.
The new Fort Lupton facility will employ executives, support personnel and fracking crews. Officials say pay will range from $14 to $29 an hour.
“The Niobrara shale already has great natural-gas production with the potential for oil production,” said Halliburton spokeswoman Zelma Branch.
Since 1974, Halliburton has had workers drilling in the Denver/Julesburg Basin, and the company employs more than 350 people.
Halliburton operations center on a 25-acre parcel at Weld County Roads 8 and 27 on the south side of Fort Lupton. The company acquired an adjacent 33 acres, with plans to add 150,000 square feet in four buildings, Branch said.
To speed the expansion, the city agreed to build 2.5 miles of water and sewer lines to the new facility. Halliburton will cover the $2.4 million cost.
The infrastructure improvements will open up 1,500 acres of land in Fort Lupton to development, which will allow other off-shoot industries to move in, Holton said. As those new developments hook into the utility lines, they will reimburse Halliburton.
Fort Lupton can also partner with neighboring Brighton to market nearly 3,000 acres adjacent to U.S. 85 and the railroad.
“This is a big addition for our town, Brighton and the whole area,” Holton said.
Halliburton, the world’s second-largest oil-field services corporation, has plenty of critics.
On Monday, U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., and two other Democratic lawmakers called on the Environmental Protection Agency to investigate whether 12 oil and gas service companies, including Halliburton, violated the Safe Drinking Water Act by using more than 32 million gallons of diesel fuel to extract gas from wells from 2005 to 2009 in 19 states, including Colorado.
Bloomberg News contributed to this report.
Monte Whaley: 720-929-0907 or mwhaley@denverpost.com
