The Eagle Ford Shale drilling rig count fell one to average 273 rigs over the past week. That's just off the 2013 high set last week. Oil drilling levels fell four rigs further from the high of 241 set three weeks ago to settle at 230 running.

The U.S. rig count is down 4 to 1,778, of which 849 are running in Texas. A total of 386 rigs are targeting natural gas and 1,385 are targeting oil in the U.S. The remainder are drilling service wells (e.g. disposal wells, injection wells, etc.).

Several companies reported earnings this week, but the highlight was EOG reporting its Record Eagle Ford Well In Gonzales County was better than initially reported to the RRC. EOG noted a production rate of more than 9,200 boe/d compared to the RRC report of a little more than 8,600 boe/d. Additionally, the well was producing more than 4,200 barrels of oil per day after 30 days. I'll go out on a limb and say that's going to be a money maker! Read more in the article EOG's Burrow Unit 5H Well Better Than First Reported

*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]Two natural gas rigs were added in the region to bring the total running up to 42 rigs. Natural gas futures were trading near $3.20/mmbtu on Friday afternoon. Cooler summer weather across the country has driven prices down over the past three weeks. Natural gas prices are more than $1 off the highs in late spring.

The oil rig count declined by four to 230 rigs running in the region this week. WTI prices were trading just below $107/bbl on Friday and have held above $100 for five weeks. Eagle Ford light crude traded at $102.50/bbl on August 9th.

A total of 209 rigs are drilling horizontal wells and just 15 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:

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

• Swift Energy Will Fund Accelerated Eagle Ford Development With Louisiana Proceeds
• Marathon Oil's Eagle Ford Production Jumps 11%
• EOG's Burrow Unit #5H Well Better Than First Reported
• Rosetta Resources Buys Remaining Working Interest at Gates Ranch - $126 Million
• SM Energy Will Complete More Eagle Ford Wells Than Planned

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Eagle Ford Shale Drilling by County

agle 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.