Gil Goodrich, vice chairman and chief executive of Goodrich Petroleum Corp., shared his thoughts about the state of the major shale plays during a recent speech at an event hosted by Young Professionals In Energy in Houston. Production from unconventional reserves have been on steep increase, as opposed to mature basins like Gulf of Mexico or more experimental (but politically taboo) locations like Alaska, has been increasing. About 50% of gas being produced in the U.S. today comes from unconventional reservoirs, says Goodrich. Haynesville: Though it doesn't get the same amount of press that it used to, the Haynesville is today, and is going to be, a very large source of gas for the U.S. "From a standing start in January 2008, the horizontal rig count activity in the Haynesville has been a monster, up from effectively zero to a peak in the third quarter of this year of 189 rigs." Goodrich says the play has started to plateau, but it is still a major contributor to both gas supply and also the effects on gas prices. From July 2008 to July 2010, Louisiana production was up dramatically , almost all on the back of the Haynesville shale. In one year, the state added 2 Bcf per day of gas production. Barnett: Compared to the Haynesville, Barnett on the other hand has done almost the opposite. "It's gone from 182 rigs running in that time period down to about 77," says Goodrich. The drop in Barnett activity was part of an overall drop in Taxas gas production of about 1.5 Bcf per day between July 2008 and July 2010. Marcellus: The wild card of the bunch. A gigantic natural gas play, it jumped from nearly zero rigs in January 2008 to more than 130 rigs running today. Because of the success of the Marcellus, Goodrich says this brings Pennsylvania and West Virginia into the fold as energy-producing states with significant political clout. Marcellus is was up 1 Bcf a day between July 2008 and July 2010, and Goodrich sees that number continuing to move forward in 2011. "This is the one play I believe that continues to add rigs throughout 2011," says Goodrich.