The Haynesville shale is on the verge of transformation from an emerging play to one of significant commercial development rivaling the quality and scope of the Barnett shale. This is according to Calgary-based EnCana Corp., which hosted a conference call detailing its activities in the Haynesville and Deep Bossier plays in Louisiana and Texas.

The Canadian firm holds 370,000 leased acres and 63,000 mineral acres in the Haynesville, much of it within its defined core area in Red River and DeSoto parishes, Louisiana. Based on its well results and gas-in-place numbers, EnCana thinks the heart of the play lies in Louisiana; it expects the Texas side of the Haynesville will be commercial but not as attractive.

To date, it has drilled 16 horizontal wells in the play. Well performances and costs are both improving; its Haynesville horizontal wells currently run $9 million, and it expects it can drop that to $8 million in the future. Estimated ultimate recoveries (EURs) are estimated at 6 billion cubic feet (Bcf) per well on average, although the Haynesville play is so new that comes with a caveat. Certain parts of the play will likely deliver as much as 9 Bcf per well.

The company noted that proppant volume placed correlates strongly to production and EURs; consequently it has ramped up its completions mightily. Early on, it placed a million pounds of proppant per lateral in eight stages, and now it places 3 million pounds of proppant in as many as 12 stages.

“Although there is a lot to learn, this play has the potential to become a leading resource play for EnCana,” said Paul Sander, vice president, Midcontinent business unit. “It has excellent shale-gas properties. Most importantly, it has high porosities. When you combine this with the significant overpressuring, you get fantastically high gas-in-place numbers.”

It plans to keep its core acreage close at hand, and execute an aggressive land-retention program. From eight rigs at present at work in the Haynesville, EnCana will end the year at somewhere between a dozen and 15 rigs. To fuel that increase, it has jumped its Haynesville budget to $580 million for 2009.

Simultaneously, the company is looking for partners on portions of the Haynesville play outside its core, including its East Texas acreage and some 30,000 acres in the deeper parts of the Louisiana Haynesville.

The Deep Bossier—a tight-sand, highly overpressured and technically demanding vertical play in East Texas’ Robertson and Leon counties—was the other major area highlighted in the call.

“The Deep Bossier continues to be the strongest-return program in the company,” said Sander. Initial rates from an average well run around 20 million cubic feet per day, and Deep Bossier EURs range from 9 to 11 Bcf per well. The tremendous volumes of gas produced during the first few years of a well’s life generate the exceptional returns.

EnCana grew its Deep Bossier production from 200- to 500 million cubic feet (gross) per day in 2008, and it had 76 wells on production at year-end. It will keep nine rigs at work on its 130,000-net-acre position this year, and projects it will hit volumes of 600 million per day gross at year-end.

During the past few years, EnCana has focused activity in Amoruso Field; in 2009, it will work in Amoruso, but will also prove up acreage in the Hilltop area. Its 2009 budget calls for $350 million to drill 20 wells in Amoruso, 14 wells in Hilltop, and four exploration wells.

Well costs have been driven down from $11.9 million in 2006 to $9.6 million at present, and EnCana’s target is to drop those further to $9.3 million. The company had 250 locations in inventory at year-end 2008, enough to sustain six years of drilling.

—Peggy Williams