Eagle Ford Shale Drilling Rig Count

The Eagle Ford Shale drilling rig count expanded by three rigs to 267 running this past week. That is the most active rigs we’ve seen working the area since the end of January.

Earnings reports continued this week with Anadarko, EOG Resources, Marathon Oil, and SM Energy all providing Eagle Ford operating updates. EOG reported that 27 wells were completed in the quarter that produced oil at rates of greater than 2,500 b/d. On the other side of the coin, Marathon reported it was writing down acreage the company wouldn’t develop, but still didn’t disappoint with 22% Eagle Ford growth over the fourth quarter of 2012.

We also spent time out at OTC this week. If you’ve never been and have an engineering mindset, you should go just to see the exhibits. Almost 105,000 people attended this year. You can read more about our experience in the article – OTC Sheds Light On New Technologies [Read more...]

The Eagle Ford Shale drilling rig count settled at 264 this past week. That is one more than last week when 263 rigs were running.

It was an event packed week, with companies reporting earnings and the Eagle Ford Conference & Expo in Robstown Wednesday and Thursday. We’ll have more details from many Eagle Ford operators later next week.

Chesapeake reported this week and noted their drilling time had fallen to 18 days from 25 days at this time last year and that they believe the drilling time could fall to 13 days. They are also reducing their rig count to 13 in the second half of the year. That’s down from 30+ just a year ago. It’s a steep drop, but the improvement in drilling time decreases the impact substantially. Read more in the article Chesapeake’s Eagle Ford Drilling Time Improving – Rig Count Down [Read more...]

The Eagle Ford Shale drilling rig count settled at 263 this past week. That is the same as last week even though we reported 247 rigs running on April 19, 2013. The difference is a shift from SmithBits to BakerHughes for our rig count data. SmithBits has discontinued its rig count service. Going forward we will be reporting rig count numbers from Baker Hughes.

Due to differences in the census taken by the two companies there are slight differences in the numbers.

*Note* Baker Hughes also releases its own Eagle Ford Rig Count that covers just the 14 core counties (230 rigs). Our numbers cover a 30 county area impacted by Eagle Ford development. A full list of the counties included can be found in the table at the bottom of this article.
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The Eagle Ford Shale drilling rig count increased seven rigs to 247 running this past week. That’s a welcome increase after settling near 240 rigs for the past two months.

The week was highlighted by several big announcements. Forest Oil is selling acreage for expertise and capital from Schlumberger. The deal also increases Forest’s Eagle Ford production expectations in 2014.

Halcon has expanded Eagle Ford development into Brazos County and there were three midstream announcements worth well over $1 billion.

• Plains All American Planning Permian To Eagle Ford Pipeline
• Atlas Buys Teak Midstream For $1 Billion
• TexStar Buys Tierra Pipeline & Transportation Assets

Eagle Ford Shale Conference & Expo

Don’t forget about the Eagle Ford Conference & Expo coming up on May 1-2 in Robstown. If you haven’t registered yet, you can do so here:

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The Eagle Ford Shale drilling rig count held flat at 240 running this past week. The region has averaged 240 rigs running for the past seven weeks.

This week, we highlighted Kinder Morgan’s plans to expand condensate processing further at its Galena Park Terminal along the Houston Ship Channel. A supply agreement with BP will support development of the facility and expand ultimate processing capacity to 100,000 b/d.

The second facility and additional storage will come with a price tag of $170 million.

You can read more about the announcement in the article Kinder Morgan Plans Second Condensate Facility At Galena Park

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The Eagle Ford Shale drilling rig count increased two units to 240 running this past week. The rig count hasn’t moved much over the past month, but I’d venture to say you might see a few rigs enter the play that weren’t planned if natural gas prices stay near or above $4/mmbtu.

The week was highlighted by Penn Virginia’s $401 million acquisition of properties from Magnum Hunter Resources in Gonzales and Lavaca counties. Read more in the article Penn Virginia – Magnum Hunter Deal Worth $401 Million.

The deal included 19,000 net acres, with 22.1 net wells producing 3,000 boe/d. Seven wells are waiting to be completed and four wells are currently drilling.

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The Eagle Ford Shale drilling rig count fell two rigs to 238 units running this past week. The region had an average of 247 rigs running throughout the first quarter. 252 were running in January, 249 in February, and an average of 241 ran throughout March.

The highlight of the week was from a new economic impact study released by UTSA. You can read more about the study in our article UTSA Eagle Ford Study Touts Oil & Gas Benefits. A few highlights from 2012 include:

• $61 Billion economic impact
• 116,000 jobs supported
• Almost $5 Billion paid in salaries last year
• $3 Billion paid in royalties

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The Eagle Ford Shale drilling rig count fell four rigs back to 240 units running this past week. We’re beginning to work on a more detailed rig analysis that we’ll publish in the coming weeks. We’re seeing larger operators lower their rig count as drilling speeds improve, but others are stepping up to the plate and the overall rig count hasn’t changed much. Our question is this – What will the rest of the year look like? We plan to share our findings soon.

Thank you to Joshua Creek Ranch who hosted the EagleFordShale.com team for an upland bird hunt and a sporting clays shoot. We’ll have more details about the ranch soon, but we have to agree that it’s the “best quail hunting in Texas”.
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The Eagle Ford Shale drilling rig count settled at 240 units running this past week. La Salle County is leading the way with 34 rigs running.

We spent most of the week at IHS CERAWeek, where the industry’s top executives converge to talk about the future of the energy industry. We came away even more convinced that plays like the Eagle Ford are the building blocks for a very bright future in the US.

While at the conference, we wrote on the breakeven oil price needed in the Eagle Ford. A representative from Baker Hughes noted that an oil price of $50-57 is needed to sustain a reasonable rate of return for operators. That number varies substantially across the play, but it’s one more vote of confidence in South Texas.

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The Eagle Ford Shale drilling rig count settled at 245 units running this past week. La Salle County still leads with 33 rigs running.

Judging by announcements from operators, we should expect to see the rig count decline throughout 2013. Operators have dropped the average drilling time from 33 days to just 16 days currently. That would indicate the same number of wells could be drilled with less than half the number of rigs that were active at the peak (260+). To date, smaller operators have stepped in and increased their drilling efforts as the largest players have dropped rigs. We’ll see more of the same in 2013, but I suspect we’ll see a rig count closer to 200 than 250 in the coming months.

The biggest announcement of the week came from Net Midstream. The company plans to build a 124-mile, 42-inch natural gas pipeline from the Agua Dulce Hub in Nueces County to the border near Rio Grande City in Starr County. The pipeline will potentially export up to 2.1 Bcf/d, which would more than double current exports to Mexico. Read more in the article Net Midstream Plans Eagle Ford Pipeline to Mexico.

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