Given the success operators have reported when marching across the booming Barnett Shale gas play in northeastern Texas, every other shale play in the country is getting renewed attention. The Barnett is one of several related shale plays that roughly follow the northern side of the Ouachita Mountain Front from West Texas to northern Arkansas. Several operators have mounted impressive leasing and drilling campaigns in their respective shale theaters of operation. And no wonder: These plays typically cover a wide swath of acreage, creating what the industry loves: low-risk, wide-spread repeatability and thousands of drilling locations. (For more on this, see "Paleozoic Gas Shales," Oil and Gas Investor, July 2005, and "Far West Texas," January 2006.) At press time, Devon Energy Corp. was estimating it can ultimately recover a whopping 8 trillion cubic feet of gas from its commanding position in the Barnett, now that it has taken in the assets of Chief Oil & Gas for $2.2 billion in cash. Southwestern Energy Co.'s multimillion-dollar commitment to the Fayetteville Shale in Arkansas is well known. The company recently reported that its gross production in that play had reached 30 million cubic feet a day, with its rig count of 10 in early June expected to rise to 18 by year-end. Multi-stage slickwater fracs on horizontal wells have been the key. But this fall, all eyes will turn also to the Woodford Shale in southeastern Oklahoma. It centers on Hughes, Coal, Pittsburg and Atoka counties. For more on this, see the August issue of Oil and Gas Investor. For a subscription, call 713-260-6441.

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