La. natural gas speculation padding pocketbooks, hopes (4/4ページ)

Companies do not have to begin reporting production numbers to the state until after the well is completed, its infrastructure is in place and the harvesting begins.

But Billy K. Lemons, principal consultant with Resource Analyt and Management Group of Nacogdoches, Texas, believes the 6,000-square-mile Barnett Shale in north Texas - primarily near Fort Worth - could be a crystal ball for the Haynesville Shale.

The Barnett was discovered by wildcatters in the 1950s; however, the technology to produce from it didn't evolve until 1980. The number of wells in 1985 was 25, and zoomed to 306 in 1995. In the past five years, natural gas production has more than doubled with more than 500 wells in operation.

Leasing of mineral rights continues hot and heavy in the Fort Worth area. Lease payments that once hovered around $500 an acre are bumping toward $30,000 to $40,000 an acre with 25 percent to 27 percent royalties. Wells are popping up in the city's corporate limits.

"If this thing plays out like they say it is, just like you see drilling rigs in downtown Fort Worth, you could see drilling rigs in downtown Shreveport. If this plays out, it will be a rubber stamp of the Barnett Shale," Lemons said.

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