The Eagle Ford Shale drilling rig count jumped 16 rigs over the past week to reach 264 rigs. The previous week held the Eagle Ford era record and this past week beats the record by sixteen. Approximately 210 rigs are targeting the Eagle Ford formation. The strength in drilling is the direct result of a resilient oil price, close to $100 per barrel and continued success across the play. While natural gas prices weakened throughout the week (<$3.50/mcf), we only lost one gas rig (101). Strength continued in the oil rig market with 17 rigs moving into the region. That's the single largest jump we've seen since Eagle Ford development began in earnest. Actually, two years ago at this time there were not 17 total rigs active in the entire play.
One rig continues to drill a Webb County disposal well. Webb (41) becomes the first county to eclipse 40 active rigs, while La Salle (36) , Karnes (30), DeWitt (22), Dimmit (20), and Gonzales (20) counties together account for more than 65% of Eagle Ford drilling. Chesapeake Energy (31) and EOG Resources (26) are 10 rigs are more ahead of the third most active driller.
News highlighted throughout the play this past week included:
Stay tuned each week for an update on the South Texas rig count.
Drilling 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.
Drilling Rigs by County
