The Eagle Ford Shale drilling rig count jumped 2 rigs to 275 active in the region. That's a record for the third week in a row. It's still very early in the year, but we're getting close to the possibility of crossing 300 active rigs in the area some time in 2012. The two major constraints will be gas price and whether companies can hire and move qualified personnel into the region.

Eagle Ford Oil & Gas Rigs

The natural gas rig count halted its decline to add 1 rig to reach 73 running this past week. While 73 rigs is significant, don't forget many of those rigs are supported by condensate production and rich gas streams. The shift to more liquids prone areas of the play isn't going to change until we get a change in natural gas prices. Oil directed activity remained flat at 201 active rigs. For the second week in a row, we've had more than 200 oil rigs drilling in the area.

Natural gas prices traded around 10-year lows, with continued news that weather will be mild across the country. Gas traded below $2.30/mmbtu several times during the week. Oil prices did rally to almost $108 per barrel (WTI), but with gasoline prices approaching records, we have to wonder when there will be a reaction on the demand side that drives prices lower. We're already hearing the mention of "stay-cations". It's expensive to travel with $4 gasoline.

Horizontal wells account for activity from 257 rigs and we have 1 injection well being drilled in La Salle County. Karnes County leads development with 40 rigs. La Salle (39), Webb (31), Gonzales (27), DeWitt (27), McMullen (27), Dimmit (17), Atascosa (10), and Live Oak (10) make up the top Eagle Ford counties.

News from the week included:

• Anadarko Increases Eagle Ford Resource Estimate to 600 mmboe
• GE Investment in Howard Energy Helps Fund Meritage Midstream Acquisition
• Texas DOT Task Force to Address Barnett & Eagle Ford Shale Road Issues
• Matador Resources' Capital Budget Shifts to the Eagle Ford Shale
• Crimson Exploration Provides Operations Update

If you're traveling to San Antonio soon, be sure to visit our Eagle Ford Hotels page. We've negotiated discounted rates with hotels that are welcoming the Oil & Gas Industry.

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Drilling Rig Count by Operator

hat 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