It’s hard to believe, but it’s been 40 years since George Mitchell, the father of the shales, drilled his famous C.W. Slay #1 in Wise County near Fort Worth, proving the concept that the Barnett Shale can produce gas. And it was 30 years ago, in 1991, that Mitchell Energy & Development Corp. drilled the first horizontal well to the Barnett, proving that this shale could produce a lot of gas.
Those pioneering acts ushered in the U.S. shale revolution that is still transforming global oil and gas markets. U.S. dry gas production reached 93.1 Bcf/d in 2019, largely from horizontal wells drilled into shales around the country. It’s a performance trifecta: the EIA says U.S. gas production, demand and gross exports hit all-time highs in 2019. Exports alone rose an impressive 29% to 12.8 Bcf/d.
We can thank the Barnett Shale, the grand daddy of gas shales, for that. Mitchell’s discovery excited explorers, encouraging them to fan out across the oil patch. In this article, Oil and Gas Investor explores what’s happening in the play, now that it’s under new owners.
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