The Cana-Woodford, Eagle Ford and Bakken/Sanish/Three Forks plays continued to lead the activity growth in unconventional fields over the last year as oil and gas producers put more weight on liquids-rich shales to take advantage of higher commodity prices found in oil and natural gas liquids. Conversely, some of the nation's dry gas shales have seen the largest drilling activity declines as natural gas prices remain below $4/MMBtu for much of the country.
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said domestic water wells in two Arkansas counties showed no evidence of contamination from oil and natural gas drilling in the Fayetteville Shale, but it cautioned that additional testing would be necessary to provide an adequate comparative analysis.