Barnett Shale

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The Barnett Shale is geological formation of economic significance. It consists of Mississippian sedimentary rocks in the U.S. State of Texas. The formation is estimated to stretch from the city of Dallas west, covering 5,000 square miles (13,000 km²) and at least 17 counties.

Some experts have suggested the Barnett Shale may be the largest onshore natural gas field in the United States. The field is proven to have 2.1 trillion cubic feet (59 km³) of natural gas, and is widely estimated to contain as much as 30 trillion cubic feet of natural gas resources. Oil has also been found in lesser quantities, but sufficient (with recent high oil prices) to be commercially viable.

The Barnett Shale is known as a "tight gas" reservoir, indicating that the gas is not easily extracted. The shale is very hard, and was virtually impossible to produce gas in commercial quantities from this formation until recent improvements were made in hydrofracture technology (and recent price increases in natural gas prices made the technology economically feasible).

Counties that either have active drilling for, or the potential to have, Barnett Shale production include the following:

Bosque (potential)
Comanche (potential)
Cooke (active)
Denton (active)
Ellis (potential)
Erath (active)
Hamilton (potential)
Hill (active)
Hood (active)
Jack (potential)
Johnson (active)
Montague (potential)
Palo Pinto (active)
Parker (active)
Somervell (potential)
Tarrant (active)
Wise (active)

Operators, such as EOG Resources and Devon Energy, have stated in Public Reports (which can be found on their websites) as recently as Mid-2005 that they estimate that 1/3 to 1/2 of the land in these counties, including "hot" counties like Johnson and Tarrant, will get wells (It would logically flow that the rest of the land will either get pooled in a unit that will have wells, or get nothing at all if the land is in an especially complex area). There have been few dry holes drilled, however, because technology like 3D Seismic allows operators to predict faulting and karsting before they drill and avoid this bad acreage.

Future development of the field will also be hampered in part by the fact that major portions of the field are covered by development and will continue to be, since it is located in portions of the rapidly growing Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. Some local governments are researching means where they can drill on existing public land (e.g., parks) without disrupting other activities so they may obtain royalties on any minerals found, while others are seeking compensation from drilling companies for damage to roads caused by overweight vehicles (many of the roads are rural and not designed for use by heavy equipment).

[edit] Horizontal Drilling in the Barnett Shale

As of 2007, recent advances in the technology of horizontal drilling have opened up the potential of the Barnett Shale as a major producer of natural gas. Horizontal drilling has changed the way oil and gas drilling is done by allowing producers to drill horizontally beneath neighborhoods, schools and airports. Since much of the gas in the Barnett Shale is lodged beneath the City of Fort Worth, this new drilling technology has created a boom for the city. The new technology has brought in a tremendous number of independent producers both large and small, including Crown Exploration located in Carrollton, Texas.