The Cotton Valley subsurface formation is a tight gas play in Northeast Texas and Northwest Louisiana located just above the Haynesville/Bossier Shale. It is Upper Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous in origin and consists of sandstone, limestone, and shale. The depth of the Cotton Valley formation is roughly 7,800 to 10,000 feet. Although it is mainly a natural gas play, some oil has been produced in parts of the Cotton Valley.
Some of the more active producers in the Cotton Valley are Petrohawk Energy, Goodrich Petroleum, Exco Resources, Forest Oil, XTO Energy (now part of ExxonMobil), Questar, Penn Virginia, Cabot Oil & Gas, Devon Energy, and El Paso Corp.