The Eagle Ford Shale rig countdecreased by 11 rigs from 267 to 256 running last week. No single county had a decline of more than 2 rigs, so the decrease was not the result of a major shift geographically.

The Texas RRC released its preliminary list of the top producing counties in the state in July and the Eagle Ford should get 1st prize. Counties in the region account for 5 of the top 10 oil producing counties in the state. Read more in the article Eagle Ford Dominates the Top Producing Counties List

The U.S. rig count decrease 123 rigs from 1,756 to 1,743 running over the past week. A total of 369 rigs are targeting natural gas (9 less than last week) and 1,367 are targeting oil in the U.S. The remainder are drilling service wells (e.g. disposal wells, injection wells, etc.). 822 rigs are running in Texas.

Baker Hughes rig count is quoted here. Baker Hughes also releases its own Eagle Ford Rig Count that covers the 14 core counties (221 rigs). The rig count published on EagleFordShale.com includes a 30 county area impacted by Eagle Ford development. A full list of the counties included can be found in the table near the bottom of this article.

Eagle Ford Oil & Gas Rigs

[ic-l]The natural gas rig count fell by three from 39 to 36 rigs running over the past week. Natural gas prices rose during the week and were trading around $3.78/mmbtu on the afternoon of Oct 11th.

The oil rig count decreased by eight rigs from 227 to 219 running. WTI oil prices were trading around $102/bbl on Friday afternoon. Oil prices have been above $100 for 14 weeks now. Eagle Ford light crude traded at $99.50/bbl on Oct 10th.

A total of 28 rigs are drilling horizontal wells, 17 rigs are drilling directional wells, and 11 rigs are drilling true vertical wells. Karnes and McMullen counties lead development with 30 and 28 rigs running, respectively. See the full list of drilling by county below.

South Texas Oil & Gas News:

• STEER Calling for Eagle Ford Excellence Award Nominations
• Eagle Ford Dominates List of Top Oil Producing Counties in Texas
• Swift Energy's Well Costs Down & IP Rates Are Up
• Kinder Morgan Crude & Condensate Pipeline Expanding Into Gonzales County
• NuStar Fills Eagle Ford Expansion Phase 1
• Must Know Items for Truck Drivers in the Eagle Ford - Devorah Fox

Be sure to visit our South Texas Oilfield Job Listings to search openings and come back weekly for updates or sign up for alerts - Daily or Weekly Email Alerts

Eagle Ford Shale Drilling by County

Eagle Ford Operated Rig Count By Company

SmithBits no longer reports its operated rig count, but we'll have updated number for you from a new source soon. Until then, you can reference our numbers from mid-April. There has not been a significant change in the overall rig count since this date:

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 Baker Hughes 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.