The History of the Haynesville Basin

The Haynesville¹ was discovered in 2008 by Chesapeake. It stretches across the Texas-Louisiana border, encompassing 23 counties and approximately 9,000 square miles, reaching depths of 10,000 to 14,000 feet².

The basin’s rig count soared to its peak in mid-2010, with 185 rigs². At its highest point, the basin produced 7.2 billion cubic feet per day - 9.3% of the US’s total gas production¹. Following that early peak, the Haynesville saw a surge starting in 2017 that propelled total production to 12 billion cubic feet (Bcf) per day.

One of the main characteristics of the Haynesville Shale is that it is over-pressurized, which contributed to some very high initial production rates. Well productivity and surface improvements have been key to optimize resource production in the play. The basin holds the distinction of having many wells completed with over 3,500 lbs/ft of proppant¹.

The Haynesville Basin Today

Within the Haynesville Shale lies an estimated 250 trillion cubic feet of recoverable gas. Experts estimate that each well has the potential to yield 6.5 Bcf from those recoverable reserves. Contrast that with a standard well generating around 2.67 Bcf of gas, and the importance of the Haynesville in the energy landscape is evident¹.

In the first half of 2022, the shale play saw a resounding 54%³ surge in rig activity during the first half of the year compared to 2021. The Haynesville’s performance remained strong through December 16, 2022. The basin was credited with being central to underpinning the supply imbalance in J.P. Morgan’s 2023 natural gas supply-demand analysis.

In U.S. shale gas production, the Haynesville claims its position as the third-largest shale play, behind the Permian Basin in Texas and New Mexico and the Marcellus in the Appalachian Basin. Collectively, these three basins comprise 55% of U.S. dry natural gas production⁴.

^{1 “Haynesville Basin Data, History & Stats” Novi Labs, April 2022
2 “Information about the Haynesville Shale” Natural Gas Intelligence, Oct. 2015.
3 “State of Shale 2023, Haynesville: A Slumbering Giant?” Hart Energy, 12 Dec. 2022
4 “Natural Gas Weekly Update” U.S. Energy Information Administration 20, April 2023}

^{Source: EIA, Drilling Productivity Report, July 17, 2023.} 

^{Source: EIA, Drilling Productivity Report, July 17, 2023.}