Barnett Shale Play Field - Natural Gas Field Texas Information
- Texas Shale
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.
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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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
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 PETD - Complementing 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."
