Fayetteville Shale Play

Depth to base of treatable water (feet) -500 Arkansas Oil Gas (2008) 

Note Information presented in this table, such as original gas-in-place and technically recoverable resources, is presented for general comparative purposes only. The numbers provided are based on the sources shown and this research did not include a resource evaluation. Rather, publicly available data was obtained from a variety of sources and is presented for general characterization and comparison with other shale gas plays. Resource estimates for any basin may vary greatly depending on individual company experience, data available at the time the estimate was performed, and other factors. Furthermore, these estimates are likely to change as production methods and technologies improve. 

Abbreviations Mcf = thousands of cubic feet NA, data not available scf = standard cubic feet Tcf = trillion cubic feet. 

The Mississippian subperiod is so named because rocks of this age are exposed in the Mississippi River Valley. 

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The Fayetteville Shale Play is located in the Arkoma Basin of northern Arkansas and eastern Oklahoma and ranges in depth from 1000 to 7000 feet (Table 5.3). The Fayetteville Shale is a black, organic-rich, Mississippian-age shale bounded by limestone (Pitkin Limestone) above and sandstone (Batesville Sandstone) below (Figure 5.3). 

The area of the Fayetteville Shale play is nearly double that of the Barnett Shale at 9000 square miles, with well spacing ranging from 80 to 160 acres per well and play zone thickness averaging between 20 and 2(X) feet. The gas content of the Fayetteville Shale has been measured at 60 to 220 scf/ton, which is less than the 300 to 350 scf/ton gas content of the Barnett Shale. The lower gas content of the Fayetteville has resulted in lower estimates of the original gas-in-place and technically recoverable resources 52 Tcf and 41.6 Tcf, respectively. 

Anon. (2008). Projecting the Economic Impact of the Fayetteville Shale Play for 2008-2012. Center for Business and Economic Research, Sam M. Walton Gollege of Business, Fayetteville, AR. 

As shown earlier in Figure 4.2 in Chapter 4, shale gas is present across much of the lower 48 states. Figure 4.2 shows the approximate locations of current producing gas shales and prospective shales. To date, the most active of these shales are the Barnett Shale, Haynesville/Bossier Shale, Antrim Shale, Fayetteville Shale, Marcellus Shale, and New Albany Shale. This chapter does not discuss all of the unconventional gas shales rather, discussion here is limited to these most active shale gas plays. Each of these shale gas plays or basins is different, and each has a unique set of exploration criteria and operational challenges. Because of these differences, the development of shale gas resources in each of these areas faces potentially unique challenges. The Antrim and New Albany Shales, for example, are shallower shales that produce significant volumes of formation water, unlike most of the other gas shales. Development of the Fayetteville Shale is occurring in rural areas of north-central Arkansas, while development of the Barnett Shale is focused in the area of Forth Worth, Texas, in an urban and suburban environment. 

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