Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Mike on July 15, 2008 at 7:38

So far as we have been able to determine, the Haynesville Shale gas play does not extend into Columbia County or any other part of south Arkansas (sad!) Natural gas wells are located in southern Columbia and Lafayette counties, but our monitoring of oil/gas drilling activity reported by the Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission does not indicate anything unusual (sad, again!) That's not to say something won't come up in the future -- if anyone out there hears anything, please let me know.
The Haynesville Shale and the Fayetteville Shale are two completely different animals. The Fayetteville Shale is located in a rougb arc north of Little Rock from around Russellville to the Searcy area.
Mike McNeill
Managing editor
The Banner-News of Magnolia
news@bannernews.net
(the first daily newspaper to have any significant reporting on the Haynesville Shale)

Permalink Reply by JB on July 19, 2008 at 8:21

We have property in Claiborne parish but we also have 17 acres near the Three Creeks area. The AR land has been leased to Lanoco (sp?) and they do plan on drilling very soon in our section, but according to the geologist they are going after oil not nat gas.

Permalink Reply by Brenda Howell Cb4 on July 19, 2008 at 8:29

JB, wasn't it you that said they thought they had found a new shale in Bienville Parish? If it was you, have you heard anything else about it?

Permalink Reply by Brenda Howell Cb4 on July 19, 2008 at 8:49

If you go to http://shaleblog.com you can see the part of Arkansas that is in the Haynesville Shale. Just click on Haynesville Shale.

Permalink Reply by JB on July 19, 2008 at 16:07

Yeah, it's in Bienville. Have not heard anything new. These horizontal wells take longer than vertical wells

Permalink Reply by john goodday on August 23, 2008 at 1:45

What section, township & range in Bienville Parish? What type of shale and what makes it different from the H?

Permalink Reply by Allen67 on September 9, 2008 at 15:03

The Arkansas O&G confirmed that the Haynesville Shale does extend into Arkansas but the actual depth of the SHALE is still to be determined. Surely nothing compared to La. but at least it is here. Tests to determine this are to begin soon. Also was told that the Banner News reported that the wells to be drilled in Columbia Co. are for oil only. Is this true? If it is then are they drilling 11,000 feet into the Haynesville then going horizontal? But yet just oil??

Permalink Reply by Lerret on December 19, 2008 at 14:30

The Haynesville is a different formation than the Fayetteville. Not even the same age. The Haynesville likely is limited in extreme S. Arkansas. I suspect that new drilling in S. Arkansas is conventional oil plays (that's why they are not offering the "big bucks" for leases.) Also, there are a few explorers who are poking around for "overthrust" plays along the south edge of the Ouachita facies. That trends into N. Texas and OK.

BTW, a landman I know and ran into today in Van Buren Co., AR said that one of his company's (an independent Landman Co.) lease groups playing the Marcellus Sh in Pennsylvania had negotiated for several months with a bunch of landowners in one county and that they had no luck in signing a lease. Finally, the company (I suspect it was Chesapeake) told them "here is the offer. take it by Friday or we pull out." The landowners stuck together and about 2 weeks later the landman's phone was ringing off the hook from the landowners wanting to know what was up. He told them, "The company said take it or leave it and when we didn't lease a single acre, they pulled us out of the county and we are working another part of the state." Apparently the landowner group just thought it was a ploy. Things have changed since summer.

Just a reminder. The gas price is down. The economy is weak. The peak in gas prices was July and that peak may not be challenged again for 2 or more years. Don't get too greedy if you want to lease. If you don't want to lease, it doesn't matter; the gas will be there if it is there years from now. What's your timeline? If you want to wait they'll come back later but if you do want to lease, you need to figure out when to hold 'em and when to fold 'em