LOCAL ECONOMIC SNAPSHOT | BARNETT SHALE

Drilling down, and so is production

By GARY JACOBSON
Staff Writer gjacobson@dallasnews.com

By TOM SETZER
Staff Artist tsetzer@dallasnews.com

Final numbers arent in yet, but it appears that 2012 will be the first year that natural gas production has declined in the Barnett Shale. Low gas prices have depressed drilling, but at year-end there were still more than 16,000 wells in the field.

Drilling permits issued

The number of permits issued peaked at 4,145 in 2008, the same year that the price of natural gas averaged nearly $8 per thousand cubic feet.
Permits by year 5,000 2008: 4,145 4,000 3,000 2,000 1,000 1993: 36 0 95 00 05 10

In the field
The Barnett Shale natural gas field, one of the nations biggest, covers all or part of 25 North Texas counties. The map shows the locations of gas wells, oil wells and sites with drilling permits.
Gas wells Oil wells Sites with drilling permits
44

OKLAHOMA

35

Fort Worth
2012: 1,097

Well count
The peak year for well-count additions was 2009, when nearly 3,600 wells were added, more than the subsequent three years combined.
Cumulative well total 20,000 2012: 16,346* 15,000

30

Dallas Abilene
20

Ranger Cisco
35E 45

Stephenville

10,000

Barnett Shale extended area

Barnett Shale core area

35

5,000 1993: 150 95

*Through Oct. 9

N 25 miles

00

05

10

TEXAS

Gas production
Since 1993, wells in the Barnett Shale, also called the Newark East field, have produced a total of more than 12 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
Gas production (in billions of cubic feet) 2,500 2,000 1,500 1,000 500 0 1993: 11 billion 95
*Through November SOURCES: Railroad Commission of Texas; U.S. Energy Information Administration

U.S. natural gas wellhead price

Prices peaked in 2008, averaging nearly $8 per thousand cubic feet. That same year, drilling permits in the Barnett Shale also peaked.
Average price per thousand cubic feet $10 2011: 2,009 billion 2012: 1,770 billion* $8 $6 $4 $2 0 00 05 10 1993: $2.04 1995: $1.55 95
*Through November

2008: $7.97

2012: $2.59* 00 05 10

The bottom line

By 2015, we should be back in the $5- to $7-range for natural gas and should start to see more activity in the Barnett Shale. I get asked, Is the Barnett Shale over? No, its not over. Theres still plenty of gas, but the price is just going to have to improve. Sometimes the best answer to a question is another question. When will drilling boom again in the Barnett? When will the U.S. begin exporting liquefied natural gas?

Bud Weinstein, associate director, Maguire Energy Institute, SMU

Ed Ireland, executive director of the industry-sponsored Barnett Shale Energy Education Council

Gary Jacobson, staff writer, The Dallas Morning News