The Barnett Shale Cover Series: Hydraulic Fracturing in the Barnett Still Evolving

As the domestic natural gas industry faces a potential prolonged period of supply outstripping demand, analysts, investors, regulators, the press and others are openly questioning the reasoning behind the continued interest and activity in domestic shale gas.

In play after play, operators continue to drill in scenarios where, at first glance, it does not appear to make fiscal sense. Multinational and large integrated oil companies continue to invest in huge blocks of domestic shale gas acreage.

Though natural gas commodity prices persistently remain at a level at which the net present value (NPV) of a given well or specific project is trending toward negative over some particular time period, exploration and development barges forward. This column will examine some of the possible reasons for this, specifically with respect to the Fort Worth Basin Barnett Shale: