Eagle Ford Groundwater Contains Harmful Bacteria

Groundwater near natural gas drilling sites in the Eagle Ford shale contains harmful bacteria, new research shows.

Methane Levels in Eagle Ford Water Insignificant

Researchers at UT Arlington's (UTA) CLEAR Lab are citing three new studies that show bacteria near natural gas extraction sites around Texas are dangerous and resistant to antibiotics and traditional forms of disinfection.

“Our latest published research has revealed that harmful bacteria can be quite prevalent in Texas groundwater, especially waters that contain various chemical contaminants.”

— Kevin Schug, Director at UT's CLEAR Labs

The researchers will be looking next at new treatments to remove the dangerous pathogens.

Over the summer, a study by the U.S. Geological Survey assessed the effects of oil and gas activity on water quality in several shale fields. Researchers concluded that these methane levels are not enough to significantly affect drinking water, though it might take decades to fully assess the situation. 

Read more at uta.org.

Pioneer Natural Resources Gets Excellent Results in the Eagle Ford

Pioneer Natural Resources announced the company achieved excellent results from its Eagle Ford operations for the third quarter of 2017, along with a high level of efficiency company-wide.

EOG: Eagle Ford Remains Resilient

For 2017, Pioneer has focused on a drilling program in Karnes, DeWitt and Live Oak counties that include 20 total wells. The company used this program to test longer laterals with wider spacing and higher intensity completions in the new wells. For the remainder of the year, Pioneer plans to increase its 2017 capital budget by $50 million. 

“Pioneer’s ramping up our 2017 drilling and completion program in the Eagle Ford. The plan is to complete and POP 20 wells during the year, including nine DUCs drilled about a year ago and on the 11 new wells, testing design changes expected to significantly increase recovery. The design changes include longer laterals, increased well spacing, tighter counter cluster spacing and higher proppant concentrations. The cumulative effect of the design changes are expected to yield EURs averaging 1.3 million barrels equivalent, with IRRs ranging from 30% to 40% on the new wells.”

— Kenneth H. Sheffield, Jr.-Executive Vice President of Operations/Engineering/Facilities

Third Quarter Highlights

Third-quarter production was negatively impacted by 3,500 barrels oil equivalent per day (BOEPD) due to Hurricane Harvey and unplanned downtime at a gas processing facility. Other highlights include:   

• Producing 276 thousand barrels oil equivalent per day (MBOEPD), an increase of 17 MBOEPD, or 6%, compared to Q2
• Producing 162 thousand barrels per day (MBPD) of oil, an increase of 15 MBPD, or 10%, compared to the Q2
• Reducing production costs to $6.01 per barrel oil equivalent (BOE) compared to $6.19 per BOE in Q2
• Cash on hand of $2.1 billion 

Read more at pxd.com

Texas Drilling Permits up Over 60%

It's been a busy year for oil and gas drilling across Texas and in the Eagle Ford Shale.

For January-October, 2017, the Texas Railroad Commission (RRC) issued 4097 more (60%) oil and gas permits than last year. 1789 of those permits were granted to operators in Eagle Ford Shale counties, surpassing the total 2016 number of 1119.

Rig Count Increases Across Country; Flat in Eagle Ford

The RRC announced earlier this month that it issued 997 original drilling permits for the state in October, compared to 855 in October 2016. The breakdown includes:

• 885 new oil or gas wells permits
• 5 to re-enter plugged well bores permits
• 107 for re-completions of existing wells permits
• 236 oil, 46 gas, 646 oil or gas, 48 injection, zero service and 21 other permits

The Midland area continues to lead development for October, with the RRC issuing 440 to the region. Next was the San Antonio region with 126 oil and gas permits issued.

The RRC also reports that there have been 26 new field discoveries since the beginning of the year; 15 oil and 11 natural gas.

"In October 2017, Commission staff processed 257 oil, 91 gas, 39 injection and four other completions compared to 445 oil, 203 gas, 20 injection and zero other completions in October 2016. Total well completions processed for 2017 year to date are 5,799; down from 9,405 recorded during the same period in 2016."

— Texas Railroad Commission June Report

Read more at the RRC website.

Rig Count Increases Across Country; Flat in Eagle Ford

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The number of drilling rigs across the country increased this week, while Eagle Ford Shale rig count was unchanged with 82 rigs were running across our coverage area by midday Friday.  

In recent industry news, Texas oil and gas companies have been ordered to pay fines of over $1.8 million for various rules violations and compliance issues.

Oil & Gas Companies Fined $1.8 Million

A total of 915 oil and gas rigs were running across the United States this week, eight more than last week. 177 rigs were targeting natural gas (+8) and 738 were targeting oil in the U.S. (+0). The remainder were drilling service wells (e.g. disposal wells, injection wells, etc.) 449 of the rigs active in the U.S. were running in Texas.

Baker Hughes reports its own Eagle Ford Rig Count that covers the 14 core counties. The rig count published on EagleFordShale.com includes a 30 county area impacted by Eagle Ford development. A full list of the counties included can be found in the table below.

Eagle Ford Oil & Gas Rigs

9 rigs in the Eagle Ford region targeted natural gas this week with the commodity trading at $3.10/mmbtu.

73 Eagle Ford rigs were targeting oil with WTI oil prices sitting at $56.55.

A total of 77 rigs are drilling horizontal wells, one is drilling a directional well and four are vertical.

Karnes County leads activity in the region with 18 rigs in production. See the full list below in the Eagle Ford Shale Drilling by County below.

Eagle Ford Shale Drilling by County

Eagle Ford Shale Rig Count by County-November 17 2017

Eagle Ford Shale News

Oil & Gas Companies Fined $1.8 Million

EOG: Eagle Ford Remains Resilient

Oil Prices on the Rise

Eagle Ford Expects Meager Gains in November

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 Baker Hughes 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.