Zavala County, TX and the Eagle Ford Shale Play
Zavala County (1,302 sq miles) is in South Texas and forms part of the Eagle Ford Shale Oil Play. The county lies within the Maverick Basin where oil & gas companies are targeting the Eagle Ford Shale and the Pearsall Shale Gas Play.
Zavala County overlies the Eagle Ford formation where operators target the area for its shale oil. The formation exhibits a much higher carbonate content in this portion of the play compared to areas south of Zavala.
Drilling in the Eagle Ford targets depths of 4,000 ft to 6,000 ft in the central and southern portions of the county. The far north portions of the county are not likely as suitable for development as the formation gets closer to its outcrop and the thermal maturity is lower.
County services of interest to oil and gas lease owners include the Zavala County Appraisal District (tax collector) office and the Zavala County Clerk (property records) office. The county seat is the town of Crystal City. Other towns and communities in Zavala County include Batesville, Cometa, Chula Vista River Spur, La Pryor, Las Colonias, and Loma Vista.
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Major Operators in Zavala County
Chespeake, CML Exploration, and Petrohawk are the largest producing companies in Zavala County.
Chesapeake is in partnership with the Chinese National Offshore Oil Company (CNOOC) in much of the southern and eastern portions of the county and in surrounding counties. The companies agreed to the partnership in 2010 and are targeting shale oil wells with horizontal laterals that extend 5,000 ft to 8,000 ft through the Eagle Ford.
Petrohawk's Red Hawk prospect is found in the western portion of Zavala County. The company reports comparable geology to the Hawkville Field in La Salle and McMullen counties, but the formation is thinner at 100 ft to 120 ft.
Zavala County - Eagle Ford Shale Statistics
This following information is provided by The University of Texas at San Antonio’s (UTSA) Institute for Economic Development.
- Quarterly Taxable Spending: $9,739,540 (2nd quarter 2012, an increase of 57% since 2009)
- Oil & Gas Employment: 436 jobs (2011)
- 10-Year Oil & Gas Employment Outlook: 914 jobs (2021)
- Population 2010 Census: 11,677 (0.7% increase since 2000)
E&P Companies with Operations in Zavala County
- Alamo Operating
- Buffco Production
- Cabot Oil & Gas
- Chesapeake Energy
- Civron Petroleum
- CML Exploration
- Crimson Exploration
- Dan A. Hughes
- Dawsey Operating
- Espada Operating
- Genesis Gas & Oil
- Hess Corporation
- Hidalgo E&P
- LMP Petroleum
- Matador Production
- McDay Energy
- Newfield Exploration
- Petrohawk Energy
- Property Development Group
- Regency Energy
- Riley Exploration
- Rio Grand Exploration
- Rio Tex, Inc.
- Sabco Operating
- Sabinal Resources
- Sage Energy
- Sanchez Oil & Gas
- Shell Western E&P (Shell)
- Spartan Operating
- Stephens Production
- Strand Energy
- Texas American Resources
- TXCO Resources (Now Anadarko and Newfield)
- U.S. Energy Corp.
- Winn Exploration
Zavala County Pipeline Companies
- Enterprise Products
- Howard Energy Partners
- West Texas Gas