Gas drilling begins at Texan airport
In Texas, it seems they’ll drill for oil and gas just about anywhere.
The state’s thirst for petroleum products was underscored on Tuesday when the Chesapeake Energy began drilling operations at an unlikely location — the Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) International Airport.
Roughnecks lowered a massive gold drill bit into the soil near one of the runways as a steady stream of airplanes came in for landing at the world’s third busiest airport.
The 18,000-acre airport sits on top of the Barnett Shale — one of America’s richest natural gas deposits which is spread across about 15 Texas counties and is estimated to contain about 26 trillion cubic feet of natural gas resources.
Chesapeake plans to eventually drill more than 300 natural gas wells directly beneath the airport but has not given an estimate on how much gas it thinks is lying in that location.
Henry Hood, general counsel for Chesapeake, said structurally higher natural gas prices “…make it cost effective to pursue large-scale drilling initiatives such as this one.”
DFW International Airport received a $186 million (94 million pounds) initial bonus from Chesapeake and will get a 25 percent revenue-sharing royalty on all natural gas produced from its leasehold.
Information from: today.reuters.co.uk
