Louisiana’s Haynesville shale has been actively developed since its discovery, but in recent years there has been rapid retrenchment in the region and a precipitous decline in the number of new wells drilled. Cheap credit, irrational exuberance, and risk taking have played key roles in the investment decisions of operators, but work remains to sustain production and make the play more efficient and successful to attract capital. To better understand the trade-offs in unconventional development, Louisiana’s Haynesville shale is used as a case study to evaluate trends in production profiles, expected recovery volumes, development cost, and operator performance. Average production profiles have improved from 2008 to 2012 reflecting better identification of sweet spots and improved completion designs. In 2008, the expected recovery volume for a Haynesville well was 2.3 Bcf, which by 2011 increased to 5.7 Bcf per well. About two-thirds of the 2,248 producing Haynesville wells circa March 2013 are expected to recover between 2.5 and 10 Bcf over their lifetime, and the total expected recovery volume from the current well inventory is estimated to be 13.9 Tcf. The average cost to develop one Mcf of Louisiana Haynesville shale reserves to the point of production is estimated to be $1.8/Mcf, and more than half of the March 2013 well inventory is expected to have development cost greater than $3/Mcf. This is the first time development cost has been computed for any play in the U.S. based on wellbore cost statistics.