(page 2 of 2) New Oil Play Operators sank consid

(page 2 of 2)

New Oil Play

Operators sank considerable investment into northwestern Louisiana before new economic realities began to set in. According to the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources, three-dozen companies drilled more than 2,000 wells in the region during the past four years in pursuit of a portion of the potential 200 trillion cubic feet of natural gas that lies there.

“The Haynesville Shale is now the largest-producing natural gas field in the country, and the economic impact on that part of the state has been unprecedented,” says Don Briggs, president of the Louisiana Oil and Gas Association.

Recently, though, that wealth-generating engine has slowed as worldwide prices for natural gas have declined and remained low. With prices dipping as low as $2 per million British thermal units – the common unit of measure – many operators retreated from Haynesville, at least temporarily. Briggs says that whereas around 140 drilling rigs were in place in the region at the peak of activity, only about 35 continue to operate today.

United States

• Anadarko Basin (100 × 10 ¹² cu ft (2,800 km ³ ))


• Barnett Shale (2.1 × 10 ¹² cu ft (59 km ³ ))


• Berbank


• Cisco Springs Oil Field (13-15 × 10 ¹² cu ft (420 km ³ ))


• Gomez gas field (11 × 10 ¹² cu ft (310 km ³ ))


• Haynesville Shale (250 × 10 ¹² cu ft (7,100 km ³ ))


• Hugoton Natural Gas Area (27 × 10 ¹² cu ft (760 km ³ ))


• Jonah field (10.5 × 10 ¹² cu ft (300 km ³ ))


• Kamrik (13.6 × 10 ¹² cu ft (390 km ³ ))


• Katie field (13.7 × 10 ¹² cu ft (390 km ³ ))


• Kettleman North Dome Oil Field (13.7 × 10 ¹² cu ft (390 km ³ ))


• Kenai (5.7 × 10 ¹² cu ft (160 km ³ ))


• Midway field


• Mokane Lavern (5.3 × 10 ¹² cu ft (150 km ³ ))


• Point Tomson (113 × 10 ¹² cu ft (3,200 km ³ ))


• Prudhoe Bay (28 × 10 ¹² cu ft (790 km ³ ))


• Marcellus shale (168-516 × 10 ¹² cu ft (14,600 km ³ ))×10 ⁹ m³) ^{[ 4 ]}


• Monroe field


• Rio Vista Gas Field


• Seminol


• South Pass field


• Wermillion


• Umiat