For a long time the production of and and gas in Louisiana has always been produced from reservoirs located in sandstone and limestone deposits. Recently however attention has shifted focus to a very large deposit of clay buried deep below northern Louisiana. This deposit is the Haynesville Shale.
The Haynesville Shale is about 170 million years old, created around the time dinosaurs were roaming the earth (who ironically are now part of the source of the natural gas, thanks dinosaurs.) The difference between the Haynesville shale and sandstone and limestone deposits is that shale is much less permeable.
Around the United States the boom in gas production coming from shale-based deposits has been growing significantly over the past few years and the Haynesville shale is no exception to this growth. It is supposedly shaping up to be one of the largest sources of natural gas around.
All of this is very good for landowners sitting on top of the Haynesville shale as there is strong demand among gas companies for drilling rights to this land.