The Eagle Ford Shale rig count continues its climb, with 101 rigs running across our coverage area by midday Friday.

In recent Eagle Ford News: after two years of struggle and industry contraction, the outlook in Texas' Eagle Ford Shale is looking more positive.

Read more: Eagle Ford Shale Gaining Strength through 2017

A total of 901 oil and gas rigs were running across the United States this week, an increase of 16 over last week. 180 rigs targeted natural gas (eight more than the previous week) and 720 were targeting oil in the U.S. (eight more than the previous week). The remainder were drilling service wells (e.g. disposal wells, injection wells, etc.) 459 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

Eight rigs in the Eagle Ford region targeted natural gas this week with the commodity trading at $3.26/mmbtu.

95 Eagle Ford rigs were targeting oil with WTI oil prices at $50.32

A total of 95 rigs are drilling horizontal wells, two are drilling directional wells and four are vertical.

Karnes County leads this week with 24 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 News

WildHorse Gains Eagle Ford Acreage

Eagle Ford Shale Gaining Strength through 2017

Carrizo Invests Heavily in the Eagle Ford Shale Play

Baytex Breaks-Even at $30 a Barrel in the Eagle Ford

Cabot Getting Good Returns in the Eagle Ford

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.

The Eagle Ford Shale drilling rig count has had its ups and downs, marking the rise of the region's shale development and the decline brought on by low crude prices.