WESTERN HAYNESVILLE

The "Western Haynesville" is a quickly evolving play based on the deep Haynesville and Bossier geological formations.  Comstock Resources was the early mover and Aethon has followed suit.  Both companies have built large leasehold positions and drilled impressive wells.  Other major unconventional O&G companies are joining them as the play area expands.  Mitsui E&P USA has built a large position and Expand (Chesapeake) is heavily rumored to be leasing. There may be more major operators chasing this trend via the multiple brokerage firms that are active in the eastern expansion of the trend. The play area originally was comprised of Leon, Roberston and Freestone counties as the focus for early drilling. Leasing operations and "trend subsurface work" has seen the play expand to include Houston, Anderson, Cherokee and Nacogdoches counties.  The eastward expansion to Nacogdoches County now almost connects the western trend to the original Haynesville Shale fairway.  The prospective section in this trend ranges from 2000' to over 4000' thick, and the opportunity for multiple target intervals is highly probable based on some stacked lateral efforts by Comstock. The play is deep, hot and over pressured making it an expensive and challenging trend to drill, fracture stimulate and produce.