Haynesville Shale Louisiana

The Haynesville shale play of northwest Louisiana and East Texas burst on the scene in early 2008. The oil and gas industry quickly applied what had been earlier learned from the Barnett Shale of Texas, thereby producing impressive results relatively quickly. Chesapeake Energy is the largest leaseholder of the Haynesville Shale with more than 500,000 net acres followed by EnCana and Shell with over 300,000 net acres each. Petrohawk also has over 300,000 net acres targeting the Haynesville. Activity increased dramatically in mid 2008 as oil and gas prices soared. As of 2010, the Haynesville shale has more rigs drilling for gas in the formation than any other play in the US.

Haynesville Shale Companies

Significant producers within the Haynesville shale play are:

• Anadarko Petroleum
• Berry Petroleum
• Beusa Energy
• BG Group
• Cabot Oil and Gas
• Camterra Resources
• Chesapeake Energy
• Cohort Energy
• Comstock Resources
• Cubic Energy
• Denbury Resources
• Devon Energy
• El Paso Corp.
• EnCana Corp.
• Encore Acquisition
• EOG Resources
• EXCO Resources
• Forest Oil
• GMX Resources
• Goodrich Petroleum
• JW Operating
• Noble Energy
• Penn Virginia
• Petrohawk
• Plains Exploration and Production
• Questar Corp.
• Samson
• Shell Western
• St. Mary Land & Exploration
• SM Energy
• Southwestern Energy
• XTO Energy

Haynesville Shale Geology

The Haynesville shale is a shale of Upper Jurassic age that lies between the Smackover Formation and the Cotton Valley Group. Similar to other successful shale plays, the Lower Bossier/Haynesville Shale rock is both the source rock (rich in organic content) and the reservoir rock (having sufficient porosity and permeability to store and transmit hydrocarbons). The formation is a black, organic-rich shale that is the upper member of the Louark group. It is divided into upper and lower members with the lower members being the subject of primary interest to the industry. The lower member is 300-350 feet thick in the most prospecteve East Texas areas and approximately 200-250 feet thick in Northwest Louisiana. The shale produces from depths of approximately 10,000 feet.

Haynesville Shale Location

The Haynesville shale gas field covers and area of approximately 3 million acres located primarily in the following Louisiana parishes:

• Bienville Parish LA
• Bossier Parish LA
• Caddo Parish LA
• Desoto Parish LA
• Red River Parish LA
• Sabine Parish LA
• Webster Parish LA

Additional Reading

• Oil & Gas 101 – General information for mineral rights owners.
• Haynesville Shale Texas - Short article describing geology, location & counties within the Haynesville Shale of Texas. Written for oil and gas mineral rights and royalty owners in TX.