We've told you about the Bakken, Marcellus, Haynesville, Bossier, and other U.S. shale formations that are helping to provide much-needed domestic energy supplies. But have you heard of Eagle Ford?

For many years, this brittle shale formation stretching from Mexico across southern Texas has been known to contain large amounts of oil and natural gas, but wells have not been able to produce commercial quantities of energy through conventional vertical drilling.

Recently, drillers have begun applying horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing to the formation and are producing significant amounts of oil, natural gas and high-quality natural gas liquids.

According to the Eagle Ford Shale Blog, the CEO of EOG Resources says the Eagle Ford shale may be one of the biggest U.S. oil discoveries... more »

An article in today's Shreveport Times discusses the initial production results of Bossier Shale formation, and the findings are encouraging enough that it is expected to become a major player in U.S. natural gas development. The first Bossier Shale well was drilled in August flowed at 9.4 million cubic feet per day.

Over the past few years, advanced technologies such as horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing have unlocked the promise of natural gas in tight rock formations.

Quoted in the article, John L. Sharp, Chesapeake Energy Corp.'s geosciences manager said:

"And with all of that natural gas--estimated at 200 trillion cubic feet--available for sale at some point, the education of policymakers to move away from a dependence on foreign fuel sources should become a primary focus."