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Nov. 03, 2005

Johnson County yields 'monster well'

By DAN PILLER
STAR-TELEGRAM STAFF WRITER

Johnson County may be a sweet spot for natural-gas discoveries in the Barnett Shale field of North Texas.

On the heels of an industry report that describes the area as such, EOG Resources described to investors just how sweet it is: The company brought in a "monster" south of Mansfield that came in producing 7.7 million cubic feet a day.

Barnett Shale producers Devon Energy of Oklahoma City and EOG of Houston updated their operations for investors Wednesday, with Devon touting its 2,000th well in the giant gas formation and EOG unveiling what Chairman Mark Papa described as a "monster well."

"We think we have the biggest-producing well ever in Johnson County," Papa told analysts during a conference call Wednesday. He said the well, about 3 miles south of U.S. 287 near Mansfield, was drilled in September.

Papa told of two other Johnson County wells, one producing at an initial rate of 7.5 million cubic feet per day and another at 6.1 million cubic feet per day.

Johnson County has boomed as a drilling site this year, with more than 40 drilling rigs working at a time.

A report by Pickering Energy Partners of Houston issued this week described Johnson County as a "sweet spot" for the Barnett Shale that "may be superior to the original Barnett Shale drilling area north of Fort Worth in Wise and Denton counties."

EOG has nine drilling rigs working in Johnson County and one each in Parker and Erath counties.

Devon Energy, which bought Mitchell Energy in 2001 and expanded on that company's pioneering work in the Barnett Shale northwest of Fort Worth, said it reached its 2,000-well milestone during the third quarter.

Devon President John Richels said that the company has 18 drilling rigs working in the Barnett Shale, five of them in Johnson County.