Judgment Call: Ranking the Haynesville Shale’s Top E&P Producers
Companies such as Comstock Resources and Expand Energy topped rankings, based on the greatest productivity per lateral foot and other metrics— and depending on who did the scoring.
Companies such as Comstock Resources and Expand Energy topped rankings, based on the greatest productivity per lateral foot and other metrics— and depending on who did the scoring. (Source: Shutterstock.com)
Piper Sandler ranked Aethon Energy as its No. 4 Haynesville Shale operator in terms of 12-month cumulative gas output with 5.68 Bcf per 9,500 ft of lateral, analyst Mark Lear said in late January.
Following closely was Paloma Natural Gas with 5.54 Bcf per 9,500 ft of lateral.
Exco, which was an early Haynesville explorer, produced 97 MMcf/d from Carthage-Haynesville Field last November in Harrison, Nacogdoches, San Augustine and Shelby counties, Texas, according to RRC data.
Expand Energy, Exco Resources and GeoSouthern Energy’s GEP have led in first-six-month cumulative production among their Haynesville wells normalized to 9,500 feet in the past three years. (Source: J.P. Morgan Securities, citing Enverus data)
Among its newest wells, Gomez SU B-C #1H made 8.3 Bcf its first five months online.
At J.P. Morgan Securities, analyst Arun Jayaram reported the top scorers in his Haynesville review in January on multiple 2024 metrics.
The highest scores were given to those with the greatest productivity per lateral foot on a three-month and six-month basis.
Average lateral length in the Haynesville grew slightly in 2024 to 9,697 ft among operators, with Trinity Operating making the longest laterals, followed by Comstock Resources and Sabine Oil & Gas. (Source: J.P. Morgan Securities, citing Enverus data)
Jayaram noted, though, that the scores do not consider costs, since there is inconsistent transparency into this among operators.
“As such, we acknowledge that low-cost producers can still deliver strong capital efficiency, even if well performance is not in the top quartile, given the importance of completed well costs on overall shale returns,” he wrote.
The analysis was of second-half 2023 and first-half 2024 completions in contrast to the prior 12-month period.
Jayaram found wells’ first-three-month output declined 13%, but he noted that operators pared their D&C pace in 2024.
Average lateral length grew slightly to 9,697 ft among operators analyzed.
Proppant averaged 3,593 lb/ft with Expand, Aethon Energy and Trinity pumping the largest amounts.
In particular, Expand took proppant to nearly 4,500 lb/ft after holding steady at about 3,500 the prior three years.
Haynesville operators have varied their proppant recipes over the years, with Expand Energy recently increasing intensity while Aethon Energy recently reduced it. (Source: J.P. Morgan Securities, citing Enverus data)
Meanwhile, Aethon decreased its load to less than 4,000 lb/ft after pushing 4,500 lb/ft the three years prior.
Trinity, which had been low-proppant-loading in comparison, dialed up its recipe to roughly 4,000 lb in 2023 and kept it up at just under 4,000 in 2024.
Comstock and TGNR held steady at about 3,500 lb/ft for a fourth year.
Meanwhile, Sabine had drastically reduced its formula in 2023, pumping less than 3,000, but it pushed that back up in 2024 to nearly 3,500 lb.
Nissa Darbonne is author of The American Shales and has been a journalist since 1984, beginning in the oil and gas fields of South Louisiana. She writes for Oil and Gas Investor and is actively involved in Hart's conference agendas.
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