[Editor's note: A version of this story appears in the January 2021 issue of Oil and Gas Investor magazine.]

It’s hard to believe, but it’s been 40 years since George Mitchell, the father of the shales, drilled his famous C.W. Slay #1 in Wise County near Fort Worth, proving the concept that the Barnett Shale can produce gas. And it was 30 years ago, in 1991, that Mitchell Energy & Development Corp. drilled the first horizontal well to the Barnett, proving that this shale could produce a lot of gas.

Those pioneering acts ushered in the U.S. shale revolution that is still transforming global oil and gas markets. We can thank the Barnett Shale, the grand daddy of gas shales, for that. Mitchell’s discovery excited explorers, encouraging them to fan out across the oil patch. In this article, Oil and Gas Investor explores what’s happening in the play, now that it’s under new owners.

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