The Eagle Ford Shale drilling rig count grew by three to average 270 rigs over the past week. That's the first time the region has seen 270 rigs since the first week in April and only the second time it has reached this high in 2013.

The U.S. rig count is up two to 1,759, of which 836 are running in Texas. A total of 362 rigs are targeting natural gas and 1,391 are targeting oil in the U.S. The remainder are drilling service wells (e.g. disposal wells, injection wells, etc.).

NASA shared a new photo of South Texas last week. The photo shows just how much activity there is in the region. Well pads make the area look like it is more populated than many towns. Read the full write up in the article Eagle Ford Shale From Space

*Note* Now quoting Baker Hughes. Baker Hughes also releases its own Eagle Ford Rig Count that covers the 14 core counties (~230 rigs). Our numbers cover a 30 county area impacted by Eagle Ford development. A full list of the counties included can be found in the table at the bottom of this article.

Eagle Ford Oil & Gas Rigs

[ic-l]The natural gas rig count in the region held flat at 34. Natural gas futures were trading near $3.65/mmbtu on Friday afternoon. There has been some movement, but natural gas has held relatively flat over the past two weeks.

One more or 235 oil rigs are running in the region this week. WTI prices have rallied on the back of unrest in Egypt and wider equity market appreciation. The oil benchmark was trading over $106/bbl on Friday. Eagle Ford light crude traded at $102.50/bbl on July 12th.

McMullen & Karnes counties lead development with 36 and 28 rigs running, respectively. See the full list of drilling by county below.

South Texas Oil & Gas News:

• EXCO Buys Eagle Ford Properties From Chesapeake For $680 Million
• Eagle Ford From Space
• ZaZa Selling Eagle Ford Assets To Sanchez Energy For $28.8 Million
• Statoil Operating Eagle Ford Properties As of July 2013

Be sure to visit our South Texas Oilfield Job Listings to search openings and come back weekly for updates.

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:

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 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.