Oil & Gas Pro

Haynesville Gas Minerals: A Ground War For Mineral Rights!

Haynesville Gas Minerals: Check Mate Strategies

From a Linkedin post.  It echos a couple of articles I've seen lately but are pay walled so I didn't try to post them to the site.  Anyone considering a sale of mineral rights should know this and read through my Seller Beware! discussion here on the Main Page.  Always remember, the first offer is a low ball and never share with any buyer the amount of offers you have received or the companies that made those offers.  Avoid collusion between mineral buyers.

In the heart of East Texas and Northwest Louisiana, a quiet revolution is unfolding beneath our feet, and it’s anything but subtle.

The Haynesville Shale, once a frontier of exploration, has now become a ground war for mineral rights. With LNG demand surging and natural gas prices climbing, the race is on to secure a shrinking inventory of mineral assets. But this isn’t just a land grab, it’s a high-stakes game of capital, creativity, and calculated risk... real life chess in action.

Here’s what’s driving the heat:
- Tight Supply, Tighter Competition – Most core acreage is locked down. Fewer willing sellers mean mineral owners are commanding premium deals or holding the cards entirely.


- LNG at the Helm – With Haynesville’s gas riding shotgun to Gulf Coast export terminals, proximity equals power. LNG demand is set to hit record highs in 2025-26, making this basin more strategic than ever.


- Consolidation Amplifies Tension – As giants merge and assets change hands (think Chesapeake Energy + Southwestern Energy, Chevron + TG Natural Resources LLC), the basin has become one of the most consolidated in North America. The result? Fewer operators. Higher stakes.


- Shifting Ground Strategies – With core acreage scarce, innovators are pushing into riskier flank zones, betting on tech, cost efficiencies, new completions designs and first-mover advantage.

This is no longer about who drills deeper, it’s about who thinks smarter, moves faster, and executes sharper.

The future of the Haynesville will be written by those who see opportunity in complexity and scarcity not as a constraint, but as a catalyst.

If you're investing, operating, or advising in the mineral space this is the moment to watch.

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Gale on September 12, 2025 at 19:04

Skip Peel,

  So is the article you posting saying these 4 oil companies have merged? Recently our leases with Chevron is now with TGNR, we received no notice and would not have know until the ck came if I had not gotten notice on Energy Link.  I am aware there are wells still in Chevrons name but most of those are plugged much older wells. Kinda curious as to what’s going on. My mineral rights are in the Beckville Field with some under the town of Beckville and some in Carthage as well. The largest bulk is out the Hwy from Beckville to FairPlay at and around Youngblood Cemetery. 
   I’ve not been on the site in awhile but thought I would come see what’s been posted. Thanks for all you do on here Skip! 


Oil & Gas ProPermalink Reply by Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant on September 13, 2025 at 0:57

Gale, you're welcome.  My discussion is about the competition to buy mineral rights in the Haynesville Play.  As the play matures and more mineral companies are looking to acquire Haynesville mineral rights, the competition and the purchase offers have increased.

What you are experiencing are two things that are part of the long history of the oil and gas industry.  Large O&G companies, especially the majors like Chevron, sell off assets as they mature and the value begins to decline or the seller thinks they have better prospects to invest that money in.  We are also in a wave of consolidation where the larger O&G companies buy up the assets that look most promising for their future growth and profit.  The Haynesville Shale is a good example of this.  When the Haynesville Play in Louisiana and Texas began there were well over two dozen companies involved. Now there are fewer than ten that are the significant producers.  The sale of the Chevron's Haynesville assets was announced some months ago but it is not something that those outside the industry would likely notice because our local media doesn't cover it.  Where once even the smallest of Ark-La-Tex newspapers and to a lesser extent early television stations had staff and reporters that knew the O&G business and followed and reported on it closely, now the focus is on other news and staffs have little or no knowledge of the business.  The Haynesville Shale came along at a time that the traditional oil and gas business was in a steeping decline that started back in the 1980's  when the price of oil fell to levels that were uneconomic for many if not most companies.  The majors survived but many independents large and small went out of business.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The 1980s oil glut was a significant surplus of crude oil caused by falling demand following the 1970s energy crisis. The world price of oil had peaked in 1980 at over US$35 per barrel (equivalent to $134 per barrel in 2024 dollars, when adjusted for inflation); it fell in 1986 from $27 to below $10 ($77 to $29 in 2024 dollars).[2][3] The glut began in the early 1980s as a result of slowed economic activity in industrial countries due to the crises of the 1970s, especially in 1973 and 1979, and the energy conservation spurred by high fuel prices.[4] The inflation-adjusted real 2004 dollar value of oil fell from an average of $78.2 in 1981 to an average of $26.8 per barrel in 1986.[5]


landownerPermalink Reply by Lance Oliver on September 26, 2026 at 13:58

I have 32.32 mineral acres in an area South of Lufkin that's been professionally surveyed to be within the Haynesville Shale formation (play). The Bigfoot One well was partially drilled in my area, but they ran out of money, plugged the well and closed shop. Perhaps so bigger operator(s) will give it another shot.


Oil & Gas ProPermalink Reply by Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant on September 26, 2026 at 15:11

Lance, I've never heard of a "professional survey" to determine a location to be in the Haynesville Shale fairway.  Can you provide some detail?


landownerPermalink Reply by Lance Oliver on September 26, 2026 at 15:28

I don't know the name of the man in question since it was done through one of my brothers associates. All I know is the guy who did the survey was a highly regard professional.


Oil & Gas ProPermalink Reply by Rock Man on September 26, 2026 at 15:58

Lance, after looking up this well (a 16,000' vertical well 15 miles SE of Lufkin), I have to assume that the "professional survey" is tied to someone looking at the open hole logs from this 2015 well.

Comments / interpretation based on interval thickness and log response. 

I cannot find these log in any of data sources.

Note that that this Big Foot area is well south of the present Haynesville Shale Hz trend.


landownerPermalink Reply by Lance Oliver on September 26, 2026 at 16:11

If I'm not mistaken, the survey done was independent of the BBX operation. 


Oil & Gas ProPermalink Reply by Rock Man on September 26, 2026 at 16:17

If this survey has any validity as to indicating the possibility of significant Gas in Place for the Haynesville Shale, an operator will eventually take a shot at drilling a horizontal in this area to test that concept.


landownerPermalink Reply by Lance Oliver on September 26, 2026 at 16:44

I'm hoping Bigfoot One gets a new lease on life! Pun intended.


landownerPermalink Reply by Lance Oliver on September 26, 2026 at 17:33

Do you have a link to that?


Oil & Gas ProPermalink Reply by Rock Man on September 26, 2026 at 17:40

Link to what?


landownerPermalink Reply by Lance Oliver on September 27, 2026 at 6:34

A link to the well info.

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