Eagle Ford Regional Rig Count at 240 April 5, 2013

Penn Virginia Eagle Ford Map
Penn Virginia Eagle Ford Map

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.

Eagle Ford Oil & Gas Rigs

[ic-l]The natural gas rig count held at a low of 20 running this past week. Natural gas prices traded down, then back up to more than $4/mmbtu on Friday. Don't forget, natural gas was trading closer to $2 than four this time last year. The extra revenue will be welcomed by operators and we shouldn't be surprised to see small upticks in natural gas activity later in the summer.

A total of 219 oil rigs are running in the region or two more than last week. WTI crude futures lost the ground it gained last week to trade at $92.50/bbl Friday afternoon. Eagle Ford light traded at $89.75/bbl on April 4th.

There are 211 horizontal rigs running in the region. An injection well is being drilled in Webb County.

La Salle and Karnes counties lead development with 32 rigs running. See the full list of drilling by county at the bottom of the page.

South Texas Oil & Gas News:

Be sure to visit our South Texas Oilfield Job Listings to search openings and come back weekly for update

Eagle Ford Rig Count by Operator

What is the Rig Count?

The Eagle Ford Shale Rig Count is an index of the total number of oil & gas drilling rigs running across a 30 county area in South Texas. The South Texas rigs referred to in this article are for ALL drilling reported by SmithBits and not solely wells targeting the Eagle Ford formation. All land rigs and onshore rig data shown here are based upon industry estimates provided by the Baker Hughes Rig Count and/or Smith Service Co's (Schlumberger) Smith Rig Count.

Eagle Ford Shale Drilling by County