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So for our 400-acre pool, since we know that a well will drain 100 acres.  We know that drilling 4 wells will be enough to drain all of the gas out of the pool.

Interestingly, and very importantly, if more than 4 wells are drilled into out 400 acre pool, the total amount of gas drained out of the 400-acre pool will be less than if just 4 wells are used!

Why?  When gas is found underground, it is under natural pressure.  It is this natural pressure that makes the gas flow on its own out of the gas bearing strata, like air out of a balloon, into the gas well bore, and up to the surface.  At the surface it flows to market through “gathering lines” still under its own pressure or pushed by compressors.

So this natural pressure that exists in underground pools of natural gas is what forces the gas out of the ground.

The result of using more gas wells than is necessary to get the gas out of a single pool is that the use of the extra wells depletes the natural pressure in the pool more quickly, relative to the gas produced.   When the pressure is depleted more quickly, the pressure is gone when there is still gas left in the pool.  The pressure is depleted that would force it out.  So more of this gas resource is left in the ground.