?The sizzling Haynesville in East Texas and North Louisiana is the only major shale play to enjoy a surge in drilling during the current downturn.

Between late November and the end of January, the rig count jumped 20% in the Haynesville, from 44 to 53, says Waqar Syed, Denver-based analyst with Tristone Capital Co.

The reason is clear: Monster wells are being announced one after the other. Successes have flared up across the play from the initial spark in Caddo Parish, Louisiana, where Chesapeake Energy Corp. unveiled its Haynesville work a year ago.

Now, an area that spans southern Bienville, northern Red River and northern DeSoto parishes is emerging as a prime spot. New, extremely strong wells across a wide swath of the play are fueling industry excitement.

The latest announcement was by Questar Corp. The Salt Lake City-based company reported its #1 Golson 32H, in Section 32-15n-9w, Bienville Parish, flowed to sales at an initial rate of about 23 million cubic feet a day.

The well, drilled in Woodardville Field, made an average of 18 million per day, with flowing pressures of 6,400 psi, during its first three weeks of production. The Golson is the easternmost big horizontal producer in the play.

Questar also says its #1 Shelby 31H, drilled 1.5 miles west in adjoining Section 31-15n-9w, flowed at an initial rate of more than 20 million a day. The company holds some 31,000 net acres in this area, clearly a sweet spot in the prolific Haynesville.

Four miles south-southwest, Forest Oil Corp. has also scored a significant well. The Denver independent revealed that its first horizontal Haynesville test, #1H Moseley 14, in Section 14-14n-10w, tested at 14 million cubic feet per day. A 2,450-foot lateral was completed with seven frac stages. The site is in the Red River Parish portion of Woodardville Field.

Forest’s well is eight miles east of the most impressive Haynesville well yet reported. Petrohawk Energy Corp.’s #1 Sample 9, in Section 9-14n-11w in Thorn Lake Field, Red River Parish, was completed for 28.2 million cubic feet of gas per day. The Sample is significant because it lies a dozen miles south of Petrohawk’s activity in Elm Grove Field, where the Haynesville is particularly prolific.

Additionally, four miles south of the Sample, Petrohawk completed its #1 Matthews 16 in Red River-Bull Bayou Field. This well, in Section 16-13n-11w, Red River Parish, was tested at 17.5 million cubic feet per day, according to the operator.

DeSoto Parish has its own string of huge wells. Dallas-based Exco Resources Inc. completed its #6 Oden Heirs 30H in Section 30-14n-13w in Holly Field. The well, the company’s first Haynesville horizontal completion, was completed for 22.9 million a day. A 4,481-foot lateral was stimulated in nine stages. That test is 14 miles west of Petrohawk’s Sample.

Most recently, the #1 Griffith, Section 11-13n-14w, also in Holly Field, was announced by Petrohawk as a 23.3-million-a-day producer. This well lies 4.5 miles southwest of Exco’s discovery. And, Houston-based El Paso Corp.’s #1 Gamble RFH 24, in Section 24-13n15w, made 14 million a day at a location another 4.5 miles southwest.

The distance from the Gamble to the Golson wells is some 33 miles, across portions of three Louisiana parishes. The quality of the wells and the spread from one side to the other is astonishing, and this is just a slice of the prospective countryside. Major drilling programs are ongoing in East Texas and other Louisiana parishes.

There’s never been anything like the Haynes­ville play; it’s truly a game changer. Rumors of a 30-million-a-day Haynesville well are currently zinging about the grapevine, and each day seems to bring reports of new and bigger producers.

The Haynesville wells are so prolific that, even with declining rig counts and crimped capital budgets, the industry may be able to continue to add substantial volumes of gas to the national supply.

There’s talk in the Patch that, within a decade, the Haynesville may become the largest producing gas field in the U.S. To date, based on well results, there is nothing to dispute that contention.