It’s common knowledge that depressed gas prices in the US have pushed producers to focus on more liquid-rich play shale gas plays. But what are the volumes and how significant a contribution to US liquids production is this shift making?

As part of our new unconventional gas service, Evaluate Energy has calculated the volumes involved in the key Barnett producing region of Texas. The answer is that the volumes are not huge: about 20,000 b/d at present from all of the Barnett Shale natural gas plays. In gas equivalent terms, that’s just 1.5% of total gas equivalent production from the Newark East Field, but the trend is steeply up as you can see below. Production in Newark East is dominated by Devon, ExxonMobil (XTO), Chesapeake and EOG.

But that’s not to say the volumes are not important to the companies themselves. In the case of EOG’s relatively small St Jo Ridge field in the Barnett Shale, for example, revenues from crude oil produced with the gas are probably more than double the revenue generated from the gas itself and are perhaps the only reason the field remains in production. The field was producing 500 b/d of crude and 3.3 mmcf/d of gas in the 3rd quarter of last year.

Evaluate Energy has used original source data from the Texas Railroad Commision. For more information on Evaluate Energy’s new unconventional gas service, please contact Danny Ghale.