Oil and Gas
Tarrant County Sits on the Barnett Shale Natural Gas Formation
Much of Tarrant County overlies the Barnett Shale — one of the country's major onshore natural gas fields — and thousands of wells have been drilled in and around the county.
The Barnett Shale covers about 5,000 square miles of north-central Texas. The Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) tracks all active wells and permits. Between 2002 and 2009, a gas drilling boom transformed Tarrant County as companies drilled in urban neighborhoods.
If you own land in Tarrant County, you may or may not own the mineral rights under it — those can be sold separately from the surface. To check well activity near a property, use the RRC's Public GIS Viewer at rrc.texas.gov.
Source to confirm: Railroad Commission of Texas – Barnett Shale