The Eagle Ford Shale drilling rig count fell six to average 267 rigs running over the past week. That's seven rigs off the 2013 high set two weeks ago. Oil drilling levels fell six further from the high of 241 set four weeks ago to settle at 224 oil rigs running.

The U.S. rig count was up 13 to 1,791, of which 846 are running in Texas. A total of 388 rigs are targeting natural gas and 1,397 are targeting oil in the U.S. The remainder are drilling service wells (e.g. disposal wells, injection wells, etc.).

Earnings season is coming to a close. We covered big production increases for Conoco and Forest during the second quarter and learned more about Halcon's El Halcon project in Brazos County. Halcon has identified the most productive zone of the Eagle Ford in its region and is driving costs down through faster drilling. Read more in the article: Halcon Focused On El Halcon

*Note* Now quoting Baker Hughes. Baker Hughes also releases its own Eagle Ford Rig Count that covers the 14 core counties (~236 rigs). The rig count published here 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]One natural gas rig was added in the region to bring the total running up to 43 rigs. That's up from just 30 rigs categorized as targeting natural gas in mid-July. Natural gas futures were trading 3.37/mmbtu on Friday afternoon.

The oil rig count declined by six rigs to 224 running in the region this week. WTI prices were trading just below $107/bbl on Friday and have held above $100 for six weeks. Eagle Ford light crude traded at $103.75/bbl on August 15th.

A total of 211 rigs are drilling horizontal wells and just 11 rigs are drilling true vertical wells. McMullen & Karnes counties lead development with 33 and 32 rigs running, respectively. See the full list of drilling by county below.

South Texas Oil & Gas News:

• Holt Cat Expanding San Antonio Headquarters
• Forest Oil's Eagle Ford Production Jumps 21% In The Second Quarter
• Halcon Resources Is Focused on El Halcon Prospect - Completes Sale In Fayette & Gonzales Counties
• ConooPhillip's Eagle Ford Production Doubles Over The Past Year
• Small Businesses Getting Help From Across South Texas - Video

Reminder - Don't miss Tom Tunstall's piece on Texas Ghost Towns & Implications In The Eagle Ford

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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.