Current State of Barnett Shale Technology

Dan Steward¹, Brad Curtis¹, Natalie Givens², and Nick Steinsberger^1
1 Republic Energy Inc, Dallas, TX
² University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS

We presented a Poster for the 2004 AAPG National meeting entitled “The Barnett Shale: Not So Simple After All.” When this poster was prepared, Barnett expansion into non-core areas had begun, but very little data was available to evaluate the results. This previous poster, therefore, dealt with Barnett complexities as we in industry understood them at the time. Significant increases in drilling have occurred since, and, as of July 1, 2005, there have been a total of 6698 Barnett permits issued for 18 counties, with 1100 of these in non-core areas. More significantly, industry operators have obtained 1500 permits for horizontal wells with approximately one-third of these permits located in the expansion area of the play. Production data is available on approximately 480 of the horizontal wells in the total play with 214 wells having greater than 12 months production history available.

In the three and a half years since Devon initiated a program of horizontal drilling in the Barnett industry has learned much, but we have really just begun to fully understand the complexities of this shale reservoir. Technology advances are being made in the application of 3-D seismic, micro-seismic frac mapping, horizontal drilling, and completion techniques that will surely improve horizontal well quality and expand the play into thinner and shallower areas of the play.