Exxon Sits on Undeveloped Haynesville Assets as Peers Jockey for Inventory

On the list of largest Haynesville natural gas producers, Exxon Mobil doesn’t crack the top 10.

But Exxon quietly holds an attractive inventory of hundreds of Haynesville and Cotton Valley locations, according to a Hart Energy analysis.

Natural gas is going to be a bigger part of Exxon’s portfolio going forward. Natural gas and LNG will make up most of the world’s future energy demand growth, Exxon upstream leader Dan Ammann said last month at the CERAWeek by S&P Global conference.

Exxon’s long-awaited Golden Pass LNG plant on the Texas-Louisiana border—not far from its Haynesville and Shelby Trough leasehold—is expected to come online later this year.

With natural gas prices rising and Haynesville drilling poised to boom, it’s unclear how Exxon’s East Texas and northern Louisiana assets fit into a shale portfolio increasingly focused on the Permian Basin.

Data from analytics firm Novi Labs show an estimated 550 2-mile locations left on the Haynesville asset where Exxon will be operator.

They screen as relatively attractive Haynesville locations, requiring a $3.70/Mcf breakeven price to generate a 25% rate of return, Novi said.

Henry Hub future prices average about $4/Mcf over the next 12 months, according to CME Group data as of April 9; 24-month strip is also $4.

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Exxon’s Haynesville footprint

Exxon hasn’t actively developed its Haynesville property in years. It most recently turned a well to sales in Nacogdoches County, Texas, in October 2021.

The 5,900-ft lateral landed in Haynesville at a vertical depth of 12,525 ft, according to Texas Railroad Commission (RRC) data.

Within Texas, Exxon produced about 66 Bcf from the Carthage-Haynesville field in 2024, or 180 MMcf/d, per RRC data. Production from the Carthage-Cotton Valley field totaled 5.2 Bcf, or around 14 MMcf/d.

And in Louisiana, Exxon produced about 18 Bcf, or 49 MMcf/d, per state data.

Exxon is the 12th-largest Haynesville gas producer, according to Enverus Intelligence Research.

Haynesville discovery

Exxon’s Haynesville assets date back to before the Haynesville Shale had become headline news.

Exxon’s Haynesville position was picked up through the $36 billion XTO Energy acquisition in 2010.

XTO had acquired properties in East Texas and northern Louisiana through its own $4.2 billion acquisition of Hunt Petroleum in 2008.

The Hunt Petroleum deal signaled a curtain call for a large portion of the Hunt family oil dynasty. E&P brands managed by other Hunt family branches continue to operate today, including Petro-Hunt and Hunt Oil.

At the time of the XTO sale, around 70% of Hunt Petroleum’s reserves were on its East Texas and northern Louisiana leasehold. Hunt’s assets included 65,000 acres in San Augustine, Shelby, Panola, Nacogdoches and Harrison counties, Texas, and in DeSoto and Caddo parishes, Louisiana.

Hunt had primarily targeted the traditional, shallow East Texas plays: the Cotton Valley, Travis Peak and James Lime formations.

But it was during Hunt’s data-room process in 2008 that Chesapeake Energy announced the discovery of the Haynesville Shale.

XTO didn’t have to pay up for that deeper inventory, XTO CEO Keith Hutton said in a 2009 Oil and Gas Investor interview.

“We paid for the normal Cotton Valley sand and Travis Peak-type production,” he said. “The wild card that makes this a big home run is the deep pay—the Haynesville and the Cotton Valley lime.”

At that time, XTO estimated that the Hunt acreage would support more than 800 wells on 80-acre spacing. Reserve estimates were some 1.5 Tcfe of upside just from the East Texas and Louisiana properties alone.

Exxon declined to be interviewed on future plans for its Haynesville acreage.

Haynesville M&A interest

Exxon holds hundreds of Haynesville drilling locations during a time of growing buyer interest for Haynesville gas inventory.

Exxon’s other major peers want Haynesville exposure, too.

On March 31, supermajor Chevron Corp. announced a $525 million sale of 70% of its East Texas assets to TG Natural Resources (TGNR).

Chevron will retain a 30% non-operated stake in the shale gas asset in Panola County, Texas. TGNR is the largest Panola County producer.

The TGNR deal is expected to generate over $1.2 billion in value for Chevron at current Henry Hub prices, “accelerating development of a non-core asset through a capital efficient approach,” the company said.

According to Novi data, Exxon’s Haynesville assets generally screen as higher quality than Chevron and TGNR’s assets to the north.

BP Plc is also gearing up to accelerate Haynesville development.

“The time has come for the Haynesville,” BP CEO Murray Auchincloss said during CERAWeek.

The interest in gas is attracting unlikely new faces. Hedge fund giant Citadel acquired Louisiana Haynesville producer Paloma Natural Gas for $1.2 billion in February, Hart Energy first reported.

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Vestiges of XTO

Exxon’s $60 billion acquisition of Pioneer Natural Resources last year cemented it as the top Permian Basin oil producer.

But with the Permian stealing headlines and investment, Exxon’s other shale assets took a backseat role.

Exxon’s shale assets in the Williston Basin, where production averaged over 100,000 boe/d last year, are being marketed for sale.

In addition to the Haynesville, Permian and Bakken plays, Exxon still has operations in Oklahoma’s Marietta Basin, the Eagle Ford and in Appalachia.

“Maybe other than the D-J (Denver-Julesburg Basin), we’re pretty much active in all the basins,” longtime Exxon upstream president Liam Mallon told Oil & Gas Investor last year before his retirement.

Exxon has been actively selling non-core portions of its onshore portfolio. Exxon sold legacy conventional Permian assets to Hilcorp Energy for about $1 billion.

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