“Cheers to the Barnett!” was a phrase I heard while attending a dinner during an internship I held at an oil and gas company based out of Oklahoma City. Being a young student naïve too much of the industry’s history, I was interested to learn what the Barnett shale is and its importance to the industry. The result is this short history of the Barnett Shale that I wrote.
The Barnett Shale also called the “granddaddy” of shale plays is the epicenter of the modern shale boom in the United States. The story of this shale starts 40 years ago. In 1981 George Mitchel proved that the Barnett Shale could produce natural gas by drilling the C.W. Slay 1 well. It would not be until the 90s with horizontal drilling along with advances in hydraulic fracturing that Mitchel would prove the economic viability of the shale. Devon Energy soon recognized the potential the Barnett Shale held and shortly acquired Mitchell Energy in 2002. Soon other E&P companies were making moves to get in on the action. The companies included the likes of Chesapeake Energy, XTO Energy and EOG Resources. By 2005 the Barnett Shale was producing 500 BCF of natural gas per year. With this production came amazing economic growth for the Fort Worth area. One example is a mineral lease on DFW airport land taken by Chesapeake for which they paid 180 million dollars. Leases like this were purchased on private homes, schools, and churches in the region as well. Further, the shale has created over 100,000 new jobs in North Texas adding $11 billion to the region’s economy annually, and has been responsible for 39% of the region’s growth since 2001 according to the Dallas Business Journal. The state has collected $5.8 billion and the independent school districts collected an additional $45.8 million in tax revenue from the Barnett’s natural gas production. Although the Barnett was the beginning of the shale boom, the industry has moved on from the play to pursue new shales that boast better economics. At its peak in 2008 there were 4,065 drilling permits issued, in 2021 only 39 drilling permits were issued showing the dramatic decline in companies’ interest in the Barnett shale.