Devon Energy Corp. takes top honors as the No. 1 producer in the Barnett Shale, and the company’s total gas production in that formation alone is enough for the Oklahoma City company to earn distinction as the overall leader in production from shale gas in the United States. An estimated 70% of US gas shale production comes from the Barnett.
In the late 1980s, Devon was one of the first companies to produce economically viable quantities of natural gas from coal beds. Drilling in northwest New Mexico’s Fruitland coal formations, the company’s innovation and persistence helped to unlock coalbed natural gas, which has become a major energy resource in North America. Devon expects its CBM operations in the San Juan Basin ultimately to produce more than 1.3 tcf of natural gas. The company’s success there has led to its efforts in other coalbed reservoirs in Wyoming as well as exploration projects in Montana, Oklahoma, and western Canada.
Devon Energy operation in Barnett Shale.Photo courtesy of Devon Energy Corp.
When Devon acquired Mitchell Energy in 2002, it began developing the huge Barnett Shale formation in north central Texas by utilizing the technical expertise it had acquired in the New Mexico and Wyoming CBM reservoirs. The company continued to improve fracturing techniques and began using horizontal drilling as well as advanced seismic imaging technology and enhanced recovery methods. Since 2002, Devon’s production has doubled to about half a billion cubic feet of natural gas equivalent per day, more than any other company operating in what has become the largest gas field in Texas.
Due in no small part to its success in the Barnett, Devon has emerged as the largest gas producer in Texas and the third largest in the nation. In the quarterly OGJ200 report in this issue (see page 40), Devon ranks as the 11th largest US-based oil and gas company in total assets, 9th in total revenue, 4th in stockholders’ equity, and 4th in capital and exploratory spending.
