Barnett

Among the nation’s shales, the Barnett is long in tooth but not short on gas. And as it turns out, the North Texas play hasn’t weakened in its ability to throw off dollars to communities in the region either.

Rigs and drilling permits in the Barnett Shale — the original dry shale gas play — have been dropping like flies, while the well count has continued to rise and dry gas production has demonstrated a staying power that one observer calls “amazing.”

Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin (UT) say they have arrived at a simple method to model decline rates of shale natural gas wells in the Barnett Shale that could also be applied to other plays, as well as oil wells in tight formations.

EnerVest Ltd. reported Monday that it is on target to clear more than $1 billion in oil and natural gas asset acquisitions within the United States for the fourth year in a row. In 2013 the company is adding to its Midcontinent, Barnett Shale and San Juan Basin acreage, in addition to snapping up its first piece of the Uinta Basin in Utah.

Devon Energy Corp. has agreed to throw in an estimated $4.8 billion of U.S. midstream assets in Texas and Oklahoma and 800,000 net acres to form a partnership with Crosstex Energy Inc.’s assets in the Marcellus, Utica, Barnett, Eagle Ford and Haynesville shales, Permian Basin and the Gulf Coast, to create a fee-based service that initially would extend 7,300 miles and offer 3.3 Bcf/d net capacity.

Shale gas production activities in the Barnett Shale have not resulted in volatile organic compound (VOC) exposures great enough to pose a health concern for area residents, according to a new study of the region’s air quality.

A report by environmental group Earthworks on the Eagle Ford Shale alleges “reckless endangerment” by regulator Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ); however, TCEQ has fired back that Earthworks is being reckless with the facts of its monitoring and enforcement of drilling, fracking and production in the region.

FERC Thursday approved Gulf Crossing Pipeline Co. LLC’s proposal to build and operate lateral facilities that would provide firm transportation services to a natural gas-fueled, combined cycle power plant that is under construction in Sherman, TX, which is 60 miles north of Dallas and near the Barnett Shale.

EV Energy Partners LP (EVEP) and partnerships managed by EnerVest Ltd. have agreed to acquire Barnett Shale natural gas properties from Carrizo Oil and Gas Inc.