Barnett Shale
Barnett Shale is deeply fractured, with fissures that tended to be sealed by calcium carbonate. The field went undiscovered until Mitchell Energy experimented with employing large gel fracture methods to open the wells to natural gas. Barnett Shale is deeply fractured, with fissures that tended to be sealed by calcium carbonate. The field went undiscovered until Mitchell Energy experimented with employing large gel fracture methods to open the wells to natural gas. Barnett Shale is a gas-bearing formation that the industry has known about for a long, long time. It was not commercially producible on a vertical well bore because the formation would not give up enough gas on a vertical structure in order to be able to make your money back out of what it took you to drill that well.
Gas saturation seems constant across the region, so it is tempting to invoke increased natural fracturing in these areas as the explanation. Gas drilling for the most part isn’t enriching the area. It’s another way for certain members of our society to keep their heads in the sand and pretend we can drill our way to happiness and $0.99 fuel again and never have to even consider changing the status quo. Gas drilling is creating jobs and helping retail sales during a tough time, giving Fort Worth a counterweight against the slowing economy. Nationwide, soaring prices for gasoline are leading to calls for more offshore drilling for oil.
Gas shale well productivity varies widely by basin, due to variations in the natural fracturing, richness of the shale, net thickness, and initial rates. The major change has been in well completion and operating methods, which have led to increase per well reserves. Gas in-place is the total amount of free and adsorbed gas within the Marcellus. Given a resource that is found under more than 34,000,000 acres of real estate with at least 50 feet of organic-rich section, the Marcellus Shale weighs in with more than 500 trillion cubic feet of gas in-place spread over a four state area.
Fracture system porosity is low, but where there are fracture clusters (and they are common), permeability may be locally high. Sealed natural fractures reactivate during hydraulic fracturing. Fractures offer such a pathway. Some years ago, there was a lot of hype about another Texas play, the Austin Chalk which is a carbonate reservoir rock that has an extensive network of natural fractures .
Natural gas produced on location is used to fire the distilling units that in turn boil the returned fracture fluid and produce fresh distilled water. The distilled water can then be used to fracture treat another Barnett Shale well. Natural gas produced on location is used to fire the distilling units that in turn boil the returned fracture fluid and produce fresh distilled water. The distilled water can then be used to fracture treat another Barnett Shale well. Natural gas is a gaseous fossil fuel containing mostly methane. It is the cleanest burning fossil fuel.
Natural gas pipes wend their way through the community. New pipeline rights of way and wells are everywhere.
Drilling likely will shift from the standard vertical wells to more expensive horizontal wells, requiring more manpower, equipment, expertise and time. Predictions are it will take another year or so before knowing if it’s a viable commercial opportunity. Drilling rigs are already located on the Dallas/Fort Worth airport, and inside the Fort Worth city limits, and are headed toward downtown. Drilling through the shale is like drilling through a Brunswick pool table or bowling ball. Yet we find several interesting factors in the shale itself such as micro fractures that travel from the north east to the southwest.
Due to the heavy influx of major operators in the area (Encana and XTO), scheduling completions and any other types of oil field services has been very difficult. Operators in the area have had to schedule well completions three to four months in advance. Due to recent improvements in technology called hydrofracture technology, gas drilling has become more of a reality for oil and gas operators. Barnett Shale is a massive natural gas deposit that occurs naturally deep under approximately seven counties in North Central Texas and including northeast Tarrant County. Due to the noise and the dust several people have moved. Some have resorted to desperate measures such as the screen you see in this photo, a likely futile attempt to block some of the dust.
Oilfield service companies that are well capitalized and well managed are experiencing very high growth rates with good profit margins. We have heard reports of equipment manufacturers moving to establish offices in the area to compete for business in the drilling and trucking industries, both of which are booming in the area. Oil has also been found in lesser quantities, but sufficient (with recent high oil prices) to be commercially viable. Oil and gas investors can realize fast ROI’s. There is currently a huge Hunton Lime re-completion, de-watering play revitalization plan coming right through our back yard and we have at least 6-8 existing “cased Holes” ready for re- completion.
Devon Energy has experienced a success rate at �close to one hundred percent,� comments Mr. Scott Coddy of Devon; he also estimates that approximately 85% of all gas in the Barnett Shale is still in place. Devon currently is drilling a fourth well and has proposed four additional new wells on our jointly owned acreage, and we expect to participate in all four proposed wells. Devon Energy, the largest natural gas producer in the Barnett Shale and also in Texas, said Wednesday it is drilling its 1,000th horizontal well in the Barnett Shale. The well, near Boyd, is expected to cost between $2.5 million and $3.3 million, the company said.
Devon is the big dog in the Barnett Shale with 120,000 acres, the majority in the core area of the Barnett Shale. Last year, Devon drilled 325 vertical wells and 54 horizontal wells in the core area of the Barnett Shale. Devon Energy acquired Mitchell Energy in 2002, and has established itself as the leading producer from the Barnett Shale. The success that independents have had in producing from the Barnett Shale is beginning to attract the interest of the large majors, like Exxon.
Prices are going through the roof. The way industry sees this play is that ultimately we will recover between 52 TCF to 100+ TCF (I think that they are way optimistic on this.) It makes it one of the largest gas discoveries in North America. Prices then usually bottom out in summer as oil prices peak. I wouldn’t be surprised to see natural gas over $9 per Mcf this winter.
Horizontal drilling has distorted the way oil and gas drilling is done by allowing producers to drill horizontally below neighborhoods, schools and airports. Since much of the gas in the Barnett Shale is stuck under the City of Fort Worth, this new drilling expertise has fashioned a shot for the city. Horizontal drilling also has less impact on the environment. With horizontal drilling, it’s possible to extract gas from property adjacent to the well.
Perhaps the bloom is off the rose, and it is not economically viable to continue to pay quarter royalties to obtain leases on unproven acreage. The Barnett shale is expensive to drill and to produce. Perhaps you can print some information from the web site to give to these neighbors and print and share these emailed info updates with them.
Right now, the shale is producing nearly two billion cubic feet every day?enough natural gas to meet the needs of 9.2 million homes. And when it comes to machines and engines doing the work, customers are overwhelmingly choosing Cat. Right wing governments with whom we have “free trade agreements” are pushing poor people off land to grow more corn and are creating ever more poor people who cannot sustain their own lives because of the monoculture. The need to produce huge amounts of corn is bringing about ever more genetically engineered corn, which has infected domestic food crops and makes growing traditional, nutritional corn more challenging if not impossible. Right now we are primarily working in the North Texas gas field known as the Barnett Shale . We represent farmers and mineral estate owners that wish to offer oil and gas lease opportunities to established oil and gas operators.
Chesapeake intervened against a new coal plant in Oklahoma, which the state turned down on Sept. Is that just self-interest or something more? Chesapeake is currently utilizing four rigs to drill Haynesville Shale wells and plans to increase its drilling activity level to approximately 10 rigs by year-end 2008 and potentially more in 2009. The company currently owns or has commitments for more than 200,000 net acres of leasehold in the Haynesville Shale and has a leasehold acquisition effort underway with the goal of owning up to 500,000 net acres in the play.
Between 2005 and 2007, completed horizontal wells achieved a 100% success rate in Johnson, Hill and Bosque counties. Between then and the end of 2007 more than 375 gas wells with suspected Marcellus intent had been permitted in Pennsylvania [2].
Oilfield service companies that are well capitalized and well managed are experiencing very high growth rates with good profit margins. We have heard reports of equipment manufacturers moving to establish offices in the area to compete for business in the drilling and trucking industries, both of which are booming in the area. Oil has also been found in lesser quantities, but sufficient (with recent high oil prices) to be commercially viable. Oil and gas investors can realize fast ROI’s. There is currently a huge Hunton Lime re-completion, de-watering play revitalization plan coming right through our back yard and we have at least 6-8 existing “cased Holes” ready for re- completion.
Oil has also been found in smaller but commercially viable quantities. Oilfield service companies that are well capitalized and well managed are experiencing very high growth rates with good profit margins. We have heard reports of equipment manufacturers moving to establish offices in the area to compete for business in the drilling and trucking industries, both of which are booming in the area. Oil and Gas Experts have suggested that it may be the largest onshore natural gas field in the US although new estimates from the newly discovered Marcellus Formation in Appalachia may equal the Barnett. The field is proven to have 2.5 trillion cu.
