Barnett Shale

Barnett rig count keeps falling to 27

Rigs working in the Barnett Shale kept falling this week, dropping by two to 27, the lowest in more than 10 years as producers continue to migrate toward fields that hold more profitable crude oil.
Even Wise County, which has led the Barnett in drilling for several years since natural gas prices dropped sharply, tapered off, with seven active rigs compared to 11 a week ago, according to RigData. Montague County, which like Wise has areas rich in oil and natural gas liquids, had four rigs, as did Denton and Tarrant counties.

Nationally, the rig count slipped by one to 1,761, even though rigs seeking gas rose by seven to 428, said Baker Hughes Inc. of Houston. Rigs seeking oil were down eight to 1,329. Four were listed as miscellaneous. A year ago, Baker Hughes counted 1,981 working rigs.
— Jim Fuquay

Barnett rig count lowest in a decade

Rigs in the Barnett Shale took a big drop this week, falling by seven to 29, the lowest since at least January 2003, according to RigData. Nearly all the field’s active rigs are in areas holding crude oil or natural gas liquids. Wise County leads with 11, followed by Montague with four, and Denton and Johnson with three each.

Nationally there were 1,762 active rigs, up three, said Baker Hughes. Gas rigs declined by four to 421, and oil rigs rose seven to 1,337.

-- Jim Fuquay

Barnett rig count up third straight week, to 40

Active drilling rigs in the Barnett Shale rose by three to 40, the third straight week of gain and a rebound from the 30 rigs that were running the week of Dec. 28, the lowest for the field in years. It's the busiest for the field since the week of Nov. 9, when there were also 40 active rigs, according to RigData. As has been the case for the past two years, activity was concentrated in Wise and Montague counties, which had 18 rigs seeking the oil and natural gas liquids found in that part of the Barnett. Tarrant, Denton and Jack counties each had four rigs.

-- Jim Fuquay 

First, satellite, then a library, now a playground

DISH, Texas, has gotten particularly resourceful at improving its citizens' quality of life through donations.

Two years ago, the Denton County town of 120 residents renamed itself DISH in exchange for 10 years of free satellite TV service. The city is also building a library, thanks largely to contributions such as used shelving from a library in nearby Justin and $2,500 in computers from Crosstex Energy. "Just beat the street," the mayor, Calvin Tillman, says.

Now, DISH has scored again, getting Chesapeake Energy to donate $22,000 worth of playground equipment toward the $32,000 cost of building a new playground at City Hall. The announcement went out Wednesday afternoon. Tillman says the town hopes the library and playground will both be complete by the time school lets out later this Spring.

"It's a very generous donation," Tillman says, of Chesapeake's contribution. Chesapeake will present the check to the mayor, 7 p.m. tonight at City Hall, 5413 Tim Donald Road. The playground will include swingsets, slides, playhouse, balance beam, and monkey bars.

"We felt it was important to give back to this community who is working hard to improve the quality of life for its citizens and provide additional services that were not available to this small town," Jerri Robbins, Chesapeake's manager of Barnett Shale public relations, said.

DISH is in the heart of Barnett Shale country. Chesapeake will operate some compressors in the area that will help transport gas from its drilling at D/FW Airport into a pipeline network. Crosstex and  Atmos Energy also have interests in the area. Atmos is donating $8,000 in labor to help build the playground.

Residents and city officials have been watching the gas companies closely.

-- Scott Nishimura