What Is The Eagle Ford Shale?
The Eagle Ford shale, sometimes spelled Eagleford is a giant new oil and gas discovery that is transforming a wide swath of South Texas.
The Eagle Ford shale fairway, as it is called by some in the business, is an area that is roughly thirty to one hundred miles wide that stretches from Maverick County near the Mexican border, through central South Texas and curves upward toward Brazos County.
Shale gas is considered unconventional gas because it comes from non-traditional wells. Wells in the Eagle Ford shale use a method called horizontal drilling. This relatively new technology has revolutionized how we get our natural gas. Thanks to this innovation we now have over one hundred years worth of that resource in the U.S.
The dark, dense Eagle Ford shale rock layer lies at a depth of between 2500 and 15,000 feet in South Texas.
The Eagle Ford shale is just now being developed. Less than 100 wells have been drilled so far but many are permitted and scheduled for 2010. Near the town of Three Rivers on new well owned by Pioneer Resources, the Crawley Unit #1H, is producing over 17MMcfd. That means it is producing over seventeen million cubic feet of natural gas per day. That’s enough to provide all the gas that a medium sized city can use.
Wells like this are causing investors and others to wake up to the potential of the Eagle Ford shale. This incredible discovery has the potential to boost the economy of this region and provide new jobs in an area with little industry. Towns like Three Rivers, Tilden, George West, Cotulla and many others will see increased tax revenues, new business and more jobs. Land owners who own the mineral rights will see some nice checks coming in over the next few years.
The Eagleford shale area will become the fastest growing area of Texas in terms of new business and job creation in the next decade.
Why The Eagle Ford Shale and Other Shale Gas Reserves Are A Big Deal
Similar shale beds are located all over the world. Suddenly we are no longer in an energy crisis, it is only that we have to switch to this more abundant form to use as a bridge to an eventual alternative energy economy.
With more than a century’s worth of natural gas in shale formations like the Eagle Ford it is a resource we cannot ignore. Natural gas can even be cleanly used in fuel cells. Thousands of home fuel cells are already in use, producing cheap electricity, heat and hot water for homeowners with very little maintenance.
For more information and maps of the Eagle Ford shale see The Eagle Ford Shale Blog
