The dozens of local oil and gas companies that were once in business in Shreveport and were members of downtown's Petroleum Club. Photo Credit: Jill Pickett

The dozens of local oil and gas companies that were once in business in Shreveport and were members of downtown’s Petroleum Club. Photo Credit: Jill Pickett

by Liz Swaine, The Shreveport-Bossier City Advocate

In the heady days of the mid-2000s, the Haynesville Shale natural gas play in north Louisiana minted millionaires. Families that were land-rich suddenly found that their bank accounts were becoming as filled with green as their acreage. A merger currently in the works of two north Louisiana drilling and production heavyweights is expected to bring more activity and possibly another local cash infusion.

“The healthier they are, the wealthier we are,” said Robert Mills of the predicted merger of Chesapeake Energy, based in Oklahoma City, and Southwestern Energy, headquartered in Spring, Texas, a suburb of Houston. Mills is the manager of A.R.W. Properties and V.W.M. Properties, companies that work in oil and gas exploration and production in the Ark-La-Tex and Mississippi