Rockcliff III Counters Haynesville Inventory Concerns with Shelby Trough Push

By Lisa El-Amin  October 12, 2026 hartenergy.com/upstream/he-rockcliff-haynesville-shelby-trough-inventory

With proximity to Gulf Coast markets, multi-zone rock and sub-$3 breakevens, the Shelby Trough stands out to operators seeking high-return Haynesville Shale inventory.

Rockcliff Energy III is testing how far Haynesville development can move beyond the Louisiana core, with gross production in the Shelby Trough now above 300 MMcf/d across roughly 60,000 net acres.

Its return to East Texas follows Rockcliff II’s 2023 sale to TG Natural Resources after the company built production to about 1.5 Bcf/d across 245,000 acres in Harrison and Panola counties.

Rockcliff spent the next 18 months evaluating the Eagle Ford, the Haynesville and multibasin deals before choosing a position farther south in the Shelby Trough for Rockcliff III.

“Ultimately, we loved the Haynesville, we think there’s a lot of opportunity there,” President and CEO Sheldon Burleson said at the SUPER DUG Conference & Expo in September. “This time we’re in what I like to call the central Haynesville, down that Shelby Trough area—East Texas, but further south.”

Rockcliff III closed its acquisition of Pine Wave Energy Partners in October 2025 with one rig and gross production ranging from a little over 100 MMcf/d to 150 MMcf/d.

A second acquisition doubled its position to 55,000 net acres, and subsequent additions brought it to about 60,000 net acres. The company added two rigs at the beginning of 2026 and now runs three rigs and one frac crew.

That added scale is showing up in its output.

The company says wells can reach initial production of 25 MMcf/d, allowing two- to four-well pads to bring on volumes quickly.

Rockcliff III also identified more than 100 billion cubic feet per section in both the Haynesville and Bossier, with breakevens of $3/Mcf or less when rock quality, pressure, temperature, productivity and cost are considered together.

“I don’t think that Haynesville is super short inventory,” Burleson said. “And so, as you move west and then southwest away from that Louisiana core, there’s still a lot of inventory left.”

Longer laterals, insulated drill pipe and mud chillers are helping to lower costs.

Rockcliff’s acreage is also close to pipelines that move gas toward the Gillis Hub and Gulf Coast LNG markets, which Burleson expects could drive more than 15 Bcf/d in new demand starting around 2028.

Burleson expands more on Rockcliff III’s Shelby Trough inventory and plans for developing the position as Gulf Coast gas demand grows in this exclusive Hart Energy interview.

This interview has been edited for clarity, length and style. The video is sponsored by The Wireline Group.

Sheldon Burleson, Rockcliff Energy

Nissa Darbonne, executive editor-at-large, Hart Energy: Hi, thank you for joining us. I’m Nissa Darbonne, executive editor-at-large for Hart Energy. I’m at SUPER DUG Conference & Expo 2026, and I’m visiting with Sheldon Burleson. Sheldon is president and CEO of Rockcliff Energy III. Everyone has been well familiar with Rockcliff I and II, which were built and flipped in East Texas in the Haynesville and Bossier play. Rockcliff Energy III, I understand, is in the Haynesville again.

Tell us about that footprint.

Sheldon Burleson, president and CEO, Rockcliff Energy III: Yeah, so like we’ve talked about, very successful run with Rockcliff II in the Haynesville. We started in that East Texas more up in the Harrison Panola area, built a great position there, ramped it up to about 1.5 Bcf/d [billion cubic feet per day], over about 245,000 acres, and then ultimately sold that to TG Natural Resources back in 2023. Did a lot of work over 18 months as we started Rockcliff III to figure out where we wanted to be.

Ultimately, we loved the Haynesville, we think there’s a lot of opportunity there. This time we’re in what I like to call the central Haynesville, down that Shelby Trough area—East Texas, but further south. We’re going to get a great mix of great rock, high pressure, great rock quality and then ultimately the infrastructure that helps us get our gas over to the Gulf Coast.

ND: I understand that in the Shelby Trough, the pressure gradient is 0.9 and the temperature can be up to 375 F. At least on the temperature measure, that’s almost the height, the maximum, that has been seen yet in the far western Haynesville. But you are able to D&C these Shelby Trough wells for about $1,400 to $1,500 per lateral foot, which is pretty much the Haynesville—traditional Haynesville play—average, while the far western Haynesville is persistently still at about $3,000 or more per lateral foot.

What is the nature if they’re both high pressure, high temperature about the Shelby Trough that would make it so much more affordable to D&C than the Western Haynesville?

SB: Yeah, I think one is the TVD (true vertical depth) here is the area that we’re at. The Shelby Trough has a pretty big range, but where we’re at, it’s around 12,000 to 13,500 ft TVD. And then you also, since you haven’t had a ton of legacy development, you don’t have a lot of SWD (saltwater disposal) zones to worry about or things like that. So we can really go and deploy longer laterals, but then most of what we can develop is on a three-string design. And so, that helps us drill faster and then ultimately cheaper than some of the ultradeep western Haynesville, which is more like in that 16,000 ft TVD-plus. So it takes more strings of casing and then more time exposed to that high temperature.

ND: You closed the Pine Wave Energy Partners, the largest [transaction]. You’ve done some organic bolt-ons so far for Rockcliff III, but the acquisition with Pine Wave property there in primarily St. Augustine and Shelby counties. I think at least the production began to appear under Rockcliff III in December, but I think you’ve got one rig already operating or was it more? What all do you have going on there?

SB: Yeah, so we acquired Pine Wave; that closed in October of 2025. And so, they had one rig running and were a little over 100 million [cubic feet] a day to 150 million [cubic feet] a day of gross production. After that acquisition, we acquired another position, same general area, another private operator. So, that doubled our acreage to 55,000 net and then added about 6,000 more since then to get to around 60,000 [net]. We picked up two additional rigs at the beginning of this year in 2026. And so, we got three rigs running now and then one frac crew. As we drilled those wells and brought the three rigs on, then now we’ve got one steady frac crew really allowed us to [get to] where today we’re already at over 300 million [cubic feet] a day gross, so about 175 net. So more than double our production. The thing we see here and what we really like about the area is you get really good production rates out of the wells, up to 25 million [cubic feet] a day IPs.

Strong production rates, so each pad that we’re bringing on, two to four wells can really ramp up your production.

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Rockcliff III Buys East Texas Haynesville Assets from Pine Wave

ND: Whenever you were looking for assets for Rockcliff III, you looked outside of the Haynesville, too, of course. What was it about what you saw outside of the Haynesville or what was it that you saw in particular about reentering the Haynesville that resulted in the Haynesville?

SB: Yeah, so we looked at a lot of different areas. My background, I worked in most of the shale basins in the U.S., so we focused a lot on Eagle Ford and Haynesville, and then we looked at some multi-basin deals. I think, ultimately, we saw there’s a lot of competition in the Eagle Ford and all the publics were acquiring a lot of assets at prices that just didn’t make sense for us.

And whereas we found there’s still great opportunities in the Haynesville. One of the things we did is we went and we remapped the entire basin and then applied machine learning models to look at where’s the right rock quality, where’s the best completion and what’s the right reservoir pressure and productivity? And that ultimately led us to the Shelby Trough area, where we think you’ve got over 100 Bcf a section in each the Haynesville and Bossier. So, you have two zones, but also that right combination of pressure, temperature and productivity with a reasonable cost.

When you put all of those together, that creates [a scenario] where you can have $3/Mcf or less breakevens. And so we said, this is where we think the basin will head, into the southwest area. So, we wanted to jump out in front of that. We always like to say skate where the puck is heading. That’s what Rockcliff II did. And so Rockcliff III really did the same thing because we like the basin, but we also like the access to Gulf Coast markets. And so again, our acreage positions [are in] very close proximity to some key pipelines where we can get our gas down to the Gillis Hub as well. And then you get access to the LNG markets.

ND: With the continued growth and demand for LNG on the Gulf Coast, for LNG export capacity, fulfilling LNG export orders as well as the new power for data center demand, it’s feasible that it won’t take very long for Rockcliff III to get flipped.

What’s your outlook if it continues along this trajectory as soon as maybe three years?

SB: That is a potential. For us, we really look at, how can we go and convert resource into revenue and into returns? Part of that is converting those PUD locations to proved developed producing (PDP). And then for us always looking at the balance of what’s the right level of production of PDP value versus undeveloped locations. And so, you typically see there’s a sweet spot, probably from one-third developed to maybe 50% developed. So, you’ve got enough production to prove up your acreage, build a good production value, but you still leave locations undeveloped for the next buyer. And so that’s what we think about when we think through the potential to exit.

But I think another important thing is, because we see the demand coming, probably, especially 2028 and beyond, that we make sure that we have a company that’s capable of operating. We have a full operating team, technical team, so that if it makes more sense for us to hold it and continue to drill it, then we can do that until we find the right market.

But I do think there’s a lot of demand coming. You’ve seen several Bcf a day over the last couple years and then potentially another 15 Bcf a day-plus in 2028 and beyond just from LNG. And then you add the power generation demand and you add AI on top of that. To me, those are kind of the cherry on top where we think there’ll be a lot of structural demand and we’ve got high quality reservoir, about 400 gross locations undeveloped that we think would be very attractive for somebody.

ND: A large gas producer that is not in the Haynesville said earlier this year that the Haynesville is super short inventory. What are your thoughts?

SB: Yeah, one, I think sometimes that comes from other basins that are kind of talking about what their advantages are. So, we all like to talk about the advantages. I think ultimately there’s going to be a demand for gas that’s needed everywhere. I don’t think that Haynesville is super short inventory. Like I said, when we looked at the rock quality and then you start applying longer laterals and then the better drilling technologies that we have now with insulated drill pipe and mud chiller where we can get our costs down, then it’s very competitive inventory in the Haynesville, even at that $3 and below. And so, as you move west and then southwest away from that Louisiana core, there’s still a lot of inventory left.

I think inventory is subjective to the price, commodity price, the well cost and then ultimately the market dynamics. That LNG core creates a very attractive price compared to Henry Hub, whereas some other basins you may see a lot bigger discount.

They may have low drilling costs, but they have a lot bigger discount on the price that they’re getting. So, our economics can compete just as well as any other basin.

ND: Super. Well, thank you, Sheldon. Really appreciate it. Thank you so much.

SB: Thanks for your time.

ND: And thank you for joining us. Stay tuned here for more actionable energy intelligence.