The Eagle Ford Shale drilling rig count fell 1 rig to 264 this past week. The rig count has remained virtually flat over the past few holiday weeks. Oil prices have moved back above $100/bbl and natural gas prices have remained about the same. The February natural gas contract is bouncing around $3/mmbtu (Henry Hub) and the natural gas rig count in our area began to show some weakness with a drop off of 7 rigs (86). The loss was almost completely absorbed by the addition of 6 rigs drilling for oil (178 total). Horizontal wells account for activity from 243 rigs drilling and we have 0 injection or service wells being drilled.

Webb (38) still leads the region, while Karnes (37), La Salle (32), DeWitt (26), Gonzales (25), McMullen (25), and Dimmit (22) still outpace other counties by more than 10 rigs. The only major move during the week was Gonzales County where 6 additional units went to work. EOG Resources (3) and Hunt Oil (2) operate 5 of the six new rigs.

News in the Eagle Ford was relatively slow until today when Hunt Oil and Marubeni announced a $1.3 billion Eagle Ford JV. Other news over the past week included

• Goodrich Release 2012 Budget Plans
• Lucas Energy Added 5,500 Eagle Ford/Eaglebine Acres
• Apollo Management and Reliance Are Evaluating Bids for El Paso's Assets
• Tax Revenues are on the Rise in South Texas

Come back weekly for updates on the South Texas drilling 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