Shreveport sounds nice

Wow... for the first time in my life, I've felt like it would have been pretty cool to live in Shreveport. If only I had a couple acres there now, maybe I could be a multi-millionaire too.

This just in from the NYT:

A no-holds-barred, all-American gold rush for natural gas is under way in this forgotten corner of the South, and De Soto Parish, with its fat check from a large energy company this month, is only the latest and largest beneficiary.

Another part that stood out was this:

The experts say the hype appears to be justified, which is why companies like the Chesapeake Energy Corporation and the Petrohawk Energy Corporation are now paying top dollar for land that was once hoarded to eke out miserly timber sales, at best.

I work for an Oil/Natural Gas company, and while those companies listed above are respectable middle-sized names, it surprised me that none of the big Louisiana Natural Gas companies were mentioned in the article. I wonder if there is a reason for that beyond general market forces. I know our company is tied up with big Gulf of Mexico drilling project right now, but I would think that they would still be interested in this if it were that promising.