Eagle Ford Shale Oil Production

Eagle Ford oil production might go down as the best surprise of the decade. The play was producing virtually zero oil at the beginning of 2010 and is on its way to more than 1 million barrels per day (b/d) in 2014. Some think the million barrel mark could be eclipsed as early as the summer.

Of the more than 800,000 b/d of Eagle Ford's liquids production reported to the Texas Railroad Commission, approximately 80% (nearing 700,000 b/d) is categorized as oil and 20% is considered condensate.

Additional condensate and NGLs either fall out of the production stream or are processed out of production down stream of the wellhead. That means the numbers reported here are conservative when considering total liquids (i.e. oil, condensate, NGLs) production in the Eagle Ford.

Eagle Ford Condensate Production

Eagle Ford condensate production reported to the state is conservative number. Condensate is generally defined as hydrocarbon liquids formed by the condensation from gas production, but there is no regulatory definition. In addition to the almost 200,000 b/d reported to the state, it's likely more condensate is falling out of the gas phase further downstream and that some of the production reported as "oil" would be defined by refineries as condensate.

Eagle Ford NGLs

What is not considered in the oil and liquids numbers above is NGL production. If you are measuring all liquids produced from the Eagle Ford, the play produces an additional ~400,000 b/d of NGLs. That puts total liquids production at more than 1.2 million b/d.

Read more about Eagle Ford NGL production on our Eagle Ford Natural Gas Production page.