Eagle Ford Regional Drilling at 274 Rigs - Sept 28, 2012
Eagle Ford Shale drilling fell five units over the past week to settle at 274 running in the region and the oil rig count held near its record at 227 rigs active. During the week, Matador Resources released well production results from its Eagle Ford wells to date. The company's average well has a perforated well length of 5,090 ft, was completed with 18 frac stages, and produced 1,103 boe/d initially (859 b/d and 1.5 mmcfd). Read more in the article Well Results from Matador Resources Eagle Ford Operations.
Natural gas saw a significant jump as contracts rolled into October. Gas was trading at just over $3.30/mmbtu on Friday afternoon. That's more than a 10% increase from last week at this time.
Eagle Ford Oil & Gas Rigs - New Oil Rig Count Record 217
The number of natural gas rigs running fell to 43 this week. That's another new low for everyone keeping count. Rigs are moving to oily targets for the foreseeable future, but if natural gas prices continue a rise that could very well change. The oil count held near its record with 227 rigs working the region. Just one less than last week.
One water well is being drilled in Bastrop County, while Karnes, Leon, and McMullen counties all have disposal wells being drilled, respectively.
Henry Hub futures were trading at ~$3.30 on Friday afternoon. That's a $0.40 increase from last week. Spot prices rose considerably, but not quite as much trading at ~$3.00 to end the week.
WTI was trading at ~$92/bbl Friday afternoon. That's the lowest point in the past two months. With elections and international turmoil, I don't believe many people have conviction about the oil market. Eagle Ford crude priced at $101/bbl on the 27th of September. Light crude and condensate in the area traded at $88.50 and $87.50, respectively.
There are 252 horizontal rigs running in the region. The four counties leading development are Karnes with 39 rigs, La Salle with 37, Dimmit with 29, and McMullen with 28. Webb (26), Gonzales (22), DeWitt (18), Atascosa (15), and Frio (10) round out the top Eagle Ford counties.
News items this week included:
- TX RRC Data Shows Eagle Ford Production is Surging
- Eagle Ford Development is a Win for the U.S.
- Port of Corpus Christi Expansions Driven by the Eagle Ford
- Good Looking Well Results from Matador Resources
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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.