The Eagle Ford Shale Consortium Conference was held in San Antonio on March 7-8 and about 800 people attended. Leaders from around the area join to share how the Eagle Ford has changed their business to date and what they expect in the future.

Highlights include:

• The Three Rivers Refinery (operated by Valero) was close to being mothballed before the Eagle Ford
• Now, Dairy Queen is paying a signing bonus in Three Rivers
• Marathon CEO - The Eagle Ford is the "best" unconventional play in North America and maybe the world
• Operators have been playing catch up building pipelines and gathering systems
• Rents and Eagle Ford Housing prices have doubled and tripled across most of the area
• 911 calls have doubled in South Texas
• McMullen County has seen an increase in wrecks of 400%, with no EMS service
• Healthcare is the next area in need of growth
• Demand is surging for primary care, treatment of diseases, treatment for joint & back problems
• Other industries are having trouble keeping employees from jumping into oilfield jobs

You can read more in the following articles from mysa.com, and two from Here and Here from caller.com