Eagle Ford Shale drilling grew by six active rigs this past week to reach 279 units. The week was largely dominated by headlines regarding the South Texas Oilfield Expo in Corpus Christi. Several hundred vendors who supply and service the oilfield in the Eagle Ford were in attendance. You're welcome to read more in regard to our time there in our Notes from the Expo.
In a positive note for the gas window of the Eagle Ford, Escondido Resources announced a record natural gas well in Webb County. The Spohn Ranch 1H well came online at more than 16 mmcfd and produced 0.4 Bcf in its first month.
Eagle Ford Oil & Gas Rigs - New Oil Rig Count Record 217
The number of natural gas rigs running fell to 47 this week. That's a new low for everyone keeping count. It was mentioned last week and I'll say it again even though we had a record natural gas well reported. Most operators expect to have most lease held-by-production this year and we're seeing the result. Where possible, rigs are moving to oily targets. There are a record 228 oil rigs working the region. That surpasses the old record of 217 set just last week.
One water well is being drilled in Bastrop County, while Karnes, Leon, and McMullen counties all have disposal wells being drilled.
Henry Hub futures were trading at ~$2.89 on Friday afternoon. That's a six cent decline from last week. Spot prices fell almost twenty cents to $2.76 to end the week.
WTI was trading at ~$93/bbl Friday afternoon. After trading near $96/bbl for a month, we close last week at $99/bbl and we've now dropped to $93/bbl in one week. The market isn't quite sure where it is going next. Eagle Ford crude priced at just over $100/bbl. That's eight dollars less per barrel than it did this time last week. Light crude and condensate in the area traded at $88.25 and $87.25, respectively.
There are 258 horizontal rigs running in the region. The four counties leading development are Karnes with 41 rigs, La Salle with 34, Dimmit with 32, and McMullen with 31. Webb (24), DeWitt (20), Gonzales (20), Atascosa (15), Frio (11), and Live Oak (9) round out the top Eagle Ford counties.
News items this week included:
- Eagle Ford Energy Boom is Just Beginning and Corpus is Set to Benefit
- Escondido Completes Record Eagle Ford Natural Gas Well
- Waste Connections Acquires R360 Environmental for $1.3 Billion
- Eagle Ford School Districts Prepare to Send Money Back to the State
Be sure to visit our South Texas Oilfield Job Listings to search openings and come back weekly for updates or sign up for alerts.
Eagle Ford 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.
Eagle Ford Shale Drilling by County
