by Jeff FerrellSHREVEPORT, LA (KSLA) - Just when you thought the hype and excitement over the Haynesville Shale may have peaked, foreign journalists and documentary crews are arriving.
It's all about 'buzz.' Recent stories about the Haynesville Shale in both the LA Times and the New York Times caught the attention of international media. In fact, we're told it could be just the beginning of such attention.
The one million subscribers to the German magazine Der Spiegel will soon learn all about the Haynesville Shale and the potential for trillions of dollars worth of natural gas trapped 2-miles under northwest Louisiana.
Mathieu Von Rohr is a Der Spiegel correspondent who arrived in Shreveport on Monday. Von Rohr explained why there's interest overseas in this story. "In an energy-starved world such a discovery is of course big news."
We caught up with Von Rohr just before he headed out to speak with DeSoto Parish leaders; a story we first covered weeks ago, after that parish received nearly 29-million dollars in lease bonus payments. But he has an overall angle about the entire Shreveport area: "What does this do to a city? I mean, which is not really on the world stage right now."
Von Rohr and Der Spiegel aren't alone. Former landman and now oil and gas lease consultant Bill Pittman, who we met late last week, said he'll meet this week with a crew from the BBC.
Closer to home, the husband and wife team of Jay and Michelle Carter came from Austin, Texas to film a documentary of their own on the Haynesville Shale. Jay Carter described the area as the perfect place to film a documentary. "We'll get in the car from this point here in the center of Shreveport and drive any direction 30 to 45 minutes. And in five seconds we're going to find somebody talking about the Haynesville Shale."
Carter is a Shreveport native who wants his film to capture the area's personality. "This is a gambling town and it shows in the Haynesville Shale and how people are handling this whole thing." Carter described the gambling going on right now. "People are gambling with what kind of bonus payments they can get. People are gambling with what kind of royalties they can get a month from now as opposed to signing today."
These journalists have vastly different schedules and timelines. For example, the Carter's will spend the next year filming their documentary before shopping it around at film festivals across the country. But Von Rohr, with Der Spiegel only has until Saturday before he flies home to Germany.
