Fayetteville Shale

The Fayetteville Shale is a geologic formation of Mississippian age (354–323 million years ago) composed of tight shale in Arkansas. It is named for Fayetteville, Arkansas and requires hydraulic fracturing to release the natural gas contained within.

Natural gas
The formation holds natural gas in a fine grain rock matrix which requires hydraulic fracturing to release the gas. This process was formerly cost prohibitive, but has become more economical with developments from the Barnett Shale in North Texas in the fields of hydraulic fracture and horizontal drilling.

Nearly 4,000 gas wells were drilled in Fayetteville between 2005 and mid-2012, with about 3 tcf of total gas produced from the shale.

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