While George Mitchell did not invent fracking, his interest in the Barnett and tight gas plays went back to the s when he noticed a layer of impermeable rock in wells drilled north of Fort Worth, Texas. He thought this could contain a lot of natural gas and obtained leases in the area, drilling his first well there in The rock was tight sandstone with natural fractures.
Many subsequent wells there were hydraulic fractured, a technique developed commercially only a few years earlier. Mitchell kept his eye on the Barnett and prompted his team to test it in He spent millions more than any other company over the 17 years it took for success.
Once he was convinced he had a gas source, it did not matter how hard or long, he was going to see it through. Initially, engineers were sceptical of pursuing the Barnett, but over time became believers. The H. Smith well in Denton County, east of established production, was plugged when logs showed it did not meet the net porosity cut-off that had been established for the play. When George became aware of this, he made the decision to unplug and complete the well. He kept the group focused on the mission and on trying until we got it right.
Newark is now listed as the second largest gas field in the US, only surpassed by the Marcellus of Pennsylvania and West Virginia, another shale play that was developed initially using knowledge learned in the Barnett. Filter Collections. Against the Odds While the Spindletop and Barnett discoveries look very different on the outside, they share some interesting similarities, both beating the odds against them.
These included: The companies: Each very small for their time without the large financial and research resources of a major. Determined oil men: A self-taught geologist named Patillo Higgins tried to drill the salt dome at Spindletop for more than ten years.
The first wells failed and Pennsylvania oil men Galey and Guffey were persuaded to finance another well. Similarly, little was known about the potential of producing gas from shales. Innovation: While drilling the Spindletop discovery well, drilling difficulties and cave-ins forced the crew to pump mud instead of water down the hole to remove cuttings, a revolutionary idea at the time.
The mud worked by coating the drill hole, allowing quick progress when the well had to be deepened. The Barnett discovery got its breakthrough when engineers switched from gel to water fracks. The change in fluids used made a major difference for both discoveries and those innovations are still used today.
Technological imaging advances and a phased development in the 15 years since discovery have begun to unlock the full potential of the Mad Dog Field, increasing its known oil-in-place nearly tenfold to up to four billion barrels of oil equivalent.
Sitting on a huge structural anticline and occupying an area of sq. Send us feedback Submit feedback. Mailing list Sign up. This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. You can configure cookie settings using the link on this message. Geological Survey report and map showing assessed shale gas resources in the United States. Department of Energy report on shale gas development in the United States.
World Shale Resource Assessments Report , Energy Information Administration Assessments of shale oil and shale gas resources for many individual countries around the world. Related Frequently Asked Questions. What are tar sands? American Geosciences Institute. What is renewable natural gas? What is coalbed methane? What is produced water? The rig count in Barnett Shale has been declining since the start of The number of wells per rig increased in , but ticked down in Still, in fourth quarter , each rig in Barnett averaged Since the start of the drilling boom in the early s, employment growth in all but one of the extended core counties has exceeded growth in the rest of Texas.
Five of the six extended core counties experienced faster wage growth than the rest of Texas, with growth almost 4. The uniquely urban nature of Barnett Shale means that employment related to oil and gas extraction is but one of many types of jobs in the area.
Nevertheless, mining's share of total employment in the extended core grew in the first decade of the century. The share ticked down in , but the six-county area still accounts for 5.
Since , most counties in the extended core have witnessed substantial growth in mining employment. The industry is particularly important in Hood county and in Wise county, the home of George Mitchell's first gas well. As of , more than 9 percent of workers in both counties are employed in mining. Since , growth in taxable sales in the extended core counties far surpassed growth in the rest of the Barnett counties. Most counties in this region have grown more than 6 percent per year on average since Toggle navigation.
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El Paso Houston San Antonio. Research Energy in the Eleventh District Toggle navigation. Economy U. Highlights According to the Railroad Commission of Texas ,the currently defined boundaries of the Barnett Shale formation fall within a county region in north Texas.
Natural Gas Production.
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