USGS drops new numbers on natural gas found in Bossier formation. It's years worth.

BY LIZ SWAINE | Staff writer  5/7/2026

The U.S. Geological Survey has released numbers that even some of their staff members refer to as “sizable” - a 10-year quantity of natural gas trapped in rock under northwest Louisiana and east Texas. 

In January, USGS issued an estimate of 47.9 trillion cubic feet of gas they believe could be present in the Gulf Coast Haynesville formation.

On Wednesday, it was the Bossier formation’s turn: 343.5 trillion cubic feet of “undiscovered, technically recoverable” but perhaps not economically viable gas believed to be in the Bossier formation through to the Western Haynesville, an area that generally comprises Leon, Freestone, Limestone, and Robertson counties in east Texas.

“It’s just the way it came out,” said USGS geologist Chris Schenk of the estimate. “We put our input in and see what happens.”

That input came up with a number that USGS estimates is enough “to supply the United States for more than 10 years at the current rate of consumption.” It can also be drilled using the technology we have now, Schenk told The Shreveport Bossier City Advocate.

And now some Geology 101

The Bossier and Haynesville geologic formations are deep and old, formed at least 145 million years ago in the Jurassic period.

Between the formations and the earth’s surface is two miles of hard stuff: sandstone, limestone and shale.

The Haynesville formation is older and usually deeper, from 10,000 to 17,000 feet below the surface. The Bossier is generally 500-800 feet shallower than the Haynesville, and younger.

But all is not so straightforward. The Railroad Commission of Texas, which oversees drilling in the Lone Star state, warns that because Texas and Louisiana name things differently, “It is generally recognized that the shale interval in East Texas is the Lower Bossier that correlates with the Haynesville of Louisiana.” In other words, same thing, different name.

The Western Haynesville’s riches

The Western Haynesville is a relatively small area in east Texas that has been found to be rich with productive, over-pressured shales.

The USGS has noticed, writing in their report: “Production from the few wells drilled in this AU (Assessment Unit) shows that estimated ultimate recoveries are substantially higher than those of typical shales of the Bossier Formation.”

Shreveport mineral consultant Skip Peel said the few gas companies working the Western Haynesville have found that to be true and have been putting pedal to metal.

“The Western Haynesville is 5 years old. The first two years of that was Comstock and Aethon leasing land and drilling just a few test wells. The last three years has been particularly Comstock in full development mode, building pipelines, building all kinds of infrastructure, treating facilities, whatnot, because they've decided that that's their future.”

Peel said in the legacy Haynesville, an area that is roughly the parts of northwest Louisiana and east Texas that are not considered the Western Haynesville, companies have been drilling both Haynesville and Bossier-depth wells for some time.

“The USGS report will bring more attention, public attention, investor attention, to the Western Haynesville. And so that's good for Comstock, and Aethon was the company that was also kind of the secondary operator in the Western Haynesville.”

“That’s one of the reasons why Mitsubishi Corporation bought them (Aethon) is because of their footprint in the Western Haynesville."