Natural Gas Shale Plays in the U.S.: Conasauga, Fayetteville, Floyd

Thanks to advances in hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling technology and techniques, the natural gas industry has grown since 2006. These highlight some of the plays where you'll find exploration and production companies working.

Conasauga Shale

The Cambrian age shale is in the Alabama counties of Etowah and St. Clair. In 2005, Dominion Exploration and Production discovered gas in Conasauga to become Alabama's first commercial shale gas production. Dominion sold its natural gas and exploration production business in April 2010 to a subsidiary of CONSOL Energy.

Eagle Ford

11,000 to 12,000 feet below the surface, Eagle Ford Shale is beneath Austin Chalk and Edwards formations in South Texas. The play has a surface that makes it easier and cheaper to drill for half of what companies pay for in other shale wells. Eagle Ford could potentially produce 19 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

Fayetteville Shale

The seventh largest producer of natural gas in the U.S., Fayetteville Shale makes up 4,000 square miles of the Arkoma basin in Central and Eastern Arkansas. Similar to the traits found in Texas' Barnett Shale rocks, Fayetteville contains Mississippian age black organic-rich rock.

Floyd Shale

The Mississippian age shale in the Black Warrior basin of Mississippi and Alabama known as Floyd Shale is sometimes referred to as Neal Shale. The black marine shale next to Chattanooga Shale has not seen a lot of action despite being geologically similar to Barnett Shale. Denbury Resources is supposedly testing in Floyd.

Gothic and Cody Shales

Gothic Shale in Southeast Colorado's Paradox Basin in Montezuma County has copper, petroleum and uranium. Bill Barrett Corp. has the largest presence in Paradox Basin where the exploration and production company is completing a horizontal well and conducting well tests with Devon Energy Corporation.

Haynesville Shale

The Haynesville formation in East Texas, Northwest Louisiana and Arkansas contains rock formation from 150 million years ago in the Jurassic age. The geographic structure is mostly clay-sized particles with ultra-low permeability and it's located beneath Cotton Valley and Elm Grove Field. Also known as Louisiana Shale and Shreveport Shale, Haynesville may have an estimated 250 trillion cubic feet of recoverable gas from 10,000 to 13,000 feet below the surface.

The industry expects Haynesville Shale to produce for 17 to 25 more years with most of the drilling in the parishes of Bienville, Bossier, Caddo, DeSoto, Red River and Webster.

Check out the other shale plays in Part 1 and Part 3. If you have information on any of the plays, please share them in comments.