Houston Chronicle:

Last October, just as the economy was tilting into crisis, a small oil and gas company in Houston quietly announced the discovery of a mammoth natural gas field in South Texas that at any other time might have garnered bigger headlines.
Petrohawk Energy’s find, however, did not go unnoticed in the oil and gas industry — and it didn’t take long before oil companies large and small began making their moves.
Today, though the economy and natural gas prices remain weak, the Eagle Ford shale remains one of the hottest prospects in North America, and energy companies are moving forward there even as they’re pulling back elsewhere.
That’s because of what some companies suggest is a virtually recession-proof combination of highly productive wells and low drilling costs they say can yield profits even as natural gas prices hover near seven-year lows.
Also attractive: the flat South Texas ranch land, where obstacles are few and Gulf Coast oil and gas infrastructure is nearby; and landowners have grown comfortable with the industry after decades of oil drilling.
“You can certainly make more money from wells than cows,” said Joe Martin, whose family leased nearly 20,000 acres of land to Petrohawk in LaSalle County for drilling.