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Barnett Shale Play Field - Natural Gas Field Texas Information - Texas Shale

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Barnett Shale Cities:  Forth Worth to Dallas, Southern Texas Counties - Johnson, Hill, Bosque, McLennan, Tarrant County. The sweet spot in the Barnett Shale is between Denton and Decatur, Texas all the way down to the Forth Worth, Texas area.

What is the Barnett Shale Area Formation?
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The Barnett Shale rock deposit is a rock formation deep below the Texas surface which in the 1950's was discovered by wildcatters. In 1980, technological advances enabled companies to extract natural gas from the Barnett Shale.  The  Barnett Shale Field has been referred to as the biggest natural gas field in the United States, having been proved to hold roughly 2.5 trillion feet of Natural Gas.  Some geologists forecast the Barnett Shale Play could hold around 30 Trillion cubic feet.  The Haynesville Shale, however, is rapidly approaching greatness and is also in Texas.

Over the years the Barnett Shale Natural Gas Field received fame when new drilling technology came onboard.  This technology which uses various fracturing techniques, is used during horizontal drilling.  The Barnett Shale is one of a kind because this was the first major operation to extract gas from shale.  When reading about other shale plays, most often you will here them refer to the Barnett Shale as this gas shale was the pioneer of them all.  Many companies are using their expertise in other shale plays in the United States.

Horizontal Drilling is a technique used to drill horizontally after the vertical well is drilled. Hydraulic Fracturing Techniques are used to Fracture the Shale Rock in order for the release of Natural Gas.  Drillers use millions of gallons of water per well and machines apply the water and sand at high rates of pressure to fracture the shale.  More can be found Here

It is estimated that the Barnett Shale is more then 6,000 feet deep and VERY thick.  So thick you have to fracture the shale in stages ( Multi Stage Frac ).  A horizontal well will run you anywhere between 5-11 million.   The Barnett Shale has a chance one day to produce 3-4 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day.  Future development of the Barnett Shale could be tricky as the Dallas - Fort Worth areas become heavily populated.  Industry technicians are trying to figure out ways the drill in highly populated areas without harming homes, schools, businesses, and airports.
Barnett Shale in 2009:
Landowners in the Barnett Shale area were getting up to $25,000 per acer by large Natural Gas and even Oil companies in 2008.  Infact, the Barnett Shale even holds a small amount of oil which can be commercially refined.  As of March 2008, homeowners in the Greater Meadowbrook area in eastern Fort Worth were being offered $25,000 per acre and a 26.5% royalty.  This all changed in late 2008, early 2009 however.  The recent economic crisis has killed demand and natural gas prices have falled under $6.  Mineral Rights leasing activety in 2009 has fallen off a cliff but most of the Barnett Shale acreage is already held by gas natural gas compaines.  Those who were expecting huge royalty checks are disappointed by the lack of drilling.  I expect natural gas to move higher for the rest of 2009 bringing back the exploration.

Is Natural Gas Shale drilling the new trend?  There has been a boom in Natural Gas and Oil discovery across the United States.  Small southern cities are being reborn by this energy craze. Natural Gas is hovering around $5 and I expect $7 prices by the end of 2009. Drilling will make economic sense once again. Don't forget to check out these other shale plays similar to Barnett. Haynesville Shale -  Marcellus Shale -  Horn River Shale - Bakken Oil Shale - Fayetteville Shale - Brazil Oil Field - Woodford Shale  - Chattanooga Shale - Utica Shale

Companies Involved in Barnett Shale - Barnett Shale Stocks

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- Devon Energy DVN - Devon DVN is the largest of the Barnett Shale operators -The company drilled 659 wells in the Barnett Shale field in north Texas during 2008. Devon had 3,809 producing wells in the field at December 31, 2008. Devon produced 398 billion cubic feet of gas equivalent (Bcfe) from the Barnett Shale field in 2008. This was a 31 percent increase compared with its 2007 net Barnett production. Net production from the Barnett Shale reached nearly 1.2 Bcfe per day during the fourth quarter of 2008. Devon had exited 2007 producing about 950 million cubic feet equivalent (MMcfe) per day.  Devon Energy has roughly 150,000 acres in the Barnett Shale.
2009 Update - Moving now to our quarterly operations highlight, we’ll start with the Barnett Shale field in North Texas. We are currently running eight Devon operated rigs compared with a peak of 39 rigs in the fourth quarter. During the first quarter, we brought 122 Barnett wells online.

Our net production in the Barnett reached an all-time high of 1.2 Bcf equivalent per day in the first quarter, a 1% increase over the fourth quarter of 2008. This reflects the lag between reduced drilling activity and lower production. We now expect our net Barnett production to crest some time during the second quarter before beginning an anticipated decline. However, when it makes sense to resume a high level of activity, we expect to continue production growth.

- Encana Oil & Gas ECA- has a large acreage position at Barnett Shale Field

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EOG Resources EOG - announced Oil discoveries and increased Natural Gas in Barnett Shale - They are drilling in Johnson county, Hill county, Hood county, Erath county, Palo Pinto county.  In the Fort Worth Basin Barnett Shale Play, EOG continues to make improvements to individual well production rates and reserve recoveries.

Stepping outside its established footprint in the natural gas area of the Fort Worth Basin Barnett Shale, EOG also reported strong test results from the Barnett Crude Oil Play (retitled the Barnett Combo Play). EOG has a dominant acreage position in the Barnett Combo, an oil play with a liquids rich natural gas stream. During the second half of 2008, drilling efforts were focused on defining acreage limits and testing wells with various completion methodologies. A total of 22 horizontal wells were completed during the second half of the year with average daily initial production rates of 300 barrels of crude oil, 130 barrels of natural gas liquids and 940 thousand cubic feet of associated natural gas. EOG recently commissioned its natural gas processing plant for this area, which will allow the company to move into development mode. EOG plans to drill 60 Barnett Combo wells in 2009.

- Chesapeake Energy CHK - Barnett Shale (North Texas): The Barnett Shale is currently the largest and most prolific unconventional gas resource play in the U.S. In this play, Chesapeake is the second-largest producer of natural gas, the most active driller and the largest leasehold owner in the Core and Tier 1 sweet spots of Tarrant and Johnson counties. During the 2009 first quarter, Chesapeake’s average daily net production of 640 mmcfe in the Barnett increased approximately 55% over the 2008 first quarter and approximately 12% over the 2008 fourth quarter. Chesapeake is currently producing approximately 660 mmcfe net per day (960 mmcfe gross operated) at a curtailed rate from the play. Notably, Chesapeake’s Donna Ray #1-H well in Johnson County has been producing an average of 9.6 mmcfe per day during the past 30 days. The company believes this well has likely registered the highest first 30 days average daily production rate of any well in the entire Barnett Shale play to date. Chesapeake anticipates operating an average of approximately 20 rigs in 2009 and 2010 to drill approximately 305 net wells in 2009 and 290 net wells in 2010 to further develop its 310,000 net acres of leasehold, of which 280,000 net acres are located in the prime Core and Tier 1 areas. The company’s estimated pre-tax rate of return from a targeted 2.65 bcfe Barnett Shale well drilled for $2.6 million is approximately 20% assuming current NYMEX natural gas and oil strip prices.

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XTO Energy XTO -  XTO Energy now holds about 280,000 acres in the Barnett Shale.... 155,000 are in the prolific core area of the Barnett Shale play. Another stellar quarter, up 7%. We are currently running 13 rigs. 11 of those are in the core 2 in Tier 1, a bunch of $4 million and $5 million a day wells like we’ve seen before. And again, we are really having a hard time slowing Barnett growth down. So, we are trying to throttle it at current gas prices, probably won’t complete as many wells in the second quarter as we did in the first just to slow down the growth.

Barnett Shale Map Texas
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Parallel Resources  PLLL -  Parallell has 78 wells in the Barnett Shale area - Barnett Shale Gas Project, Tarrant County, Texas ...Leasehold acreage in Parallel's Barnett Shale gas project consists of approximately 31,600 gross (9,300 net) acres located in and around the Trinity River flood plain, east and west of downtown Fort Worth. At present, the project controls approximately 75 multi-well pad sites. Based on current industry practices, Parallel anticipates development drilling on 40-acre spacing.

- Quicksilver Resources KWK- Quicksilver KWK has exposure in the Barnett Shale natural gas field - Quicksilver continued to focus on the exploitation and development of the 175,000 net acres in its core fairway within the Barnett Shale formation of the Fort Worth Basin. During the first quarter of 2009, the company drilled 26 (23.5 net) wells and connected 22 (20.8 net) wells to sales. At March 31, 2009, the company had five rigs working in the basin, including four rigs dedicated to the Lake Arlington/Alliance area in Tarrant and Denton counties.

- Range Resources RRC -  Range RRC has been drilling in the Barnett Shale -   The next project I want to discuss is the Barnett Shale play in the Ft. Worth Basin. Range currently has about 109,000 net acres in the Barnett Shale play. 42,000 net acres are in Tarrant, Johnson, Denton, eastern Parker, eastern Hood, northwest Ellis, and southwest Ellis counties. This is the proven part of the play and we still have over 700 locations to drill in these areas.

2009 Update:  The Southwest division delivered strong drilling results in the first quarter. Despite going from six to three rigs in the North Texas Barnett Shale play, production continued to climb. For the month of March, Barnett production averaged 125 Mmcfe per day. This is highlighted by the completion of a new southern Tarrant County well, which averaged 9.6 Mmcfe per day for the first 30 days. This is believed to be the highest 30-day average reported to date from any Barnett Shale well. Plans are to complete the 2009 drilling program in the Barnett with a three-rig program. Activity will continue to focus in the core of our acreage where we have had outstanding results in the past.

- Petroleum Development Corp  PETDComplementing PDC’s natural gas expertise is our Barnett Shale exploration project. Located in the Fort Worth Basin of Erath County, Texas, we have an interest in nearly 8,900 net acres and are examining development opportunities. We have acquired 3D seismic under both blocks, drilled one horizontal well, and completion operations are expected to commence during the second quarter as construction of a pipeline by a third party is completed.

- Denbury Resources DNR -  Average natural gas production from the Barnett Shale increased slightly on a sequential basis, averaging 60.4 MMcf/d in the first quarter of 2009 (excluding natural gas liquids “NGLs”), as compared to 59.1 MMcf/d in the fourth quarter of 2008 and 57.3 MMcf/d in the first quarter of 2008. However, during the first quarter of 2009 the Company sold a significant inventory of NGLs which had been produced but not sold during the third and fourth quarters of 2008 due to plant shutdowns caused by Hurricane Ike. This resulting in an increase in natural gas liquid sales from 2,389 Bbls/d in the fourth quarter of 2008 to 4,874 Bbls/d in the first quarter of 2009. During the first half of 2008, the Company’s natural gas liquid production averaged 3,350 BOE/d, representing a more normalized average natural gas liquid production rate per quarter. On a BOE basis, the Company’s Barnett Shale production averaged 14,932 BOE/d in the first quarter of 2009, as compared to 12,233 BOE/d in the fourth quarter of 2008 and 12,801 BOE/d in the first quarter of 2008. The Company’s total production from the Barnett Shale is expected to average approximately 12,250 BOE/d during 2009, as the Company plans to drill only three more wells in this area during 2009.

- Williams Company WMB - Williams WMB announced July 21st, 2008 that they are buying 10,000 acres in the Barnett Shale region in Texas. The assets represent an estimated 175 billion cubic feet equivalent (Bcfe) of proved, probable and possible reserves on approximately 10,000 net acres located primarily in Tarrant, Johnson and Hood counties.  At year-end 2007, Williams had an estimated 277 Bcfe of proved, probable and possible reserves in the Barnett Shale. Williams' acreage position in the play prior to this agreement was approximately 34,000 net acres.  Williams WMB now has 44,000 acres in the Barnett Shale Nautral Gas Field.  Williams has four drilling rigs operating in the Barnett Shale. The company plans to add two rigs in north Texas to begin developing the new acreage.
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- Forest Oil FST - Forest Oil FST is has exposure to the Barnett Shale -  We have also stepped up activity in the Barnett Shale, adding a second rig to deploy so we have one running in Hill County and now one also running in Erath. In Hill County our IPS remains in a 1.5 million to 2 million a day range.

Carrizo Oil & Gas CRZO -  CRZO is active in the Barnett Shale - Since January 1st, 2009 the company has brought eleven new Barnett Shale horizontal natural gas wells on production. The combined daily production from these wells amounts to slightly over 31.5 MMcfe/day gross or 22 MMcfe/day net to Carrizo. President and CEO S. P. "Chip" Johnson, commented, "The initial production rates from these wells meet our expectations for core Barnett locations although right of way and permitting complications delayed them from coming on-stream in December as originally anticipated. Included in these new wells is our first 'stagger stacked' lateral well which was drilled on the Cain lease in southeast Tarrant County. This well tests the concept of placing two layers of horizontal wells in thicker parts of the shale. The well came on production and is performing as well as the other five wells on the lease, providing us encouraging early data to use in optimizing our future Barnett exploitation program. We currently have four rigs drilling in the core of the Barnett, three in southeast Tarrant County and one in Denton County."

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