Barnett Shale

Learning from Fort Worth

The Shreveport Times, which sits amid the Haynesville Shale, continues its series of stories about the impact of Barnett Shale gas drilling on Fort Worth.

We like these stories because they offer a fresh perspective on the Barnett Shale (and because the Shreveport reporters bought lunch for your humble bloggers when they visited town earlier this year).

Here's two stories from Sunday:

http://www.shreveporttimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008811300321

http://www.shreveporttimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008811300323

And two from Monday:

http://www.shreveporttimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008812010309

http://www.shreveporttimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008812010310

A little perspective

There has been much angst in the last couple of weeks from folks who own land in the Barnett Shale and think they've missed the chance to lease their minerals for top dollar. In the heat of the summer, companies were offering $25,000 an acre in bonuses. But in the last couple of weeks, some of the same companies have said they're not leasing at all, or they're only leasing for a fraction of that amount.

If that gets you hot under the collar, consider the former Mayor of Shreveport, who's getting criticism for leasing the local airport for $1 an acre back in 2004. Shreveport is in the middle of the Haynesville Shale, which has seen a similar boom in lease prices.

http://www.shreveporttimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081019/NEWS01/810190316/1060

From our Shale to yours

Loyal readers probably saw Bill Hanna's story in Sunday's Star-Telegram about the Haynesville Shale in Louisiana and East Texas, where residents are looking to Fort Worth to learn how to organize and negotiate.

Now comes the non-profit investigative reporting group Pro Publica, with a story about how officials in upstate New York aren't ready for the impact of gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale.

Here's the Haynesville story:

Shreveport_looking_to_learn_from_the_Barnett

And the Pro Publica piece, published in the Albany (N.Y.) Times-Union:

http://timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=705332

-- Mike

Chesapeake invests in Louisiana's Haynesville Shale

Chesapeake Energy agreed to pay $178 million to jointly develop Goodrich Petroleum’s properties in the Haynesville Shale formation of Louisiana, Bloomberg News reports. Chesapeake, which also agreed to buy another producer’s stake in one of the properties, will operate the joint venture, the companies said Monday, according to Bloomberg. Chesapeake said in March that the Haynesville shale may be its most promising discovery, rivalling the quality and scope of the Barnett Shale, Bloomberg notes.

Here's Jim Fuquay's print story on the agreement; in it, EnCana also says it's bumping up its Haynesville Shale holdings.

-- Scott Nishimura