The Eagle Ford Shale drilling rig count decreased by two to 262 rigs running this past week. That is right in line with the average number of rigs that has been working in 2013.

We highlighted Goodrich Petroleum's quarterly results last week and noted the company's drilling time. It takes the company ten days to drill an Eagle Ford well, 13 days spud to rig release, and 20 days spud to spud. Drilling alone was over 20 days when the company first started developing the Eagle Ford. Read the full summary at Goodrich Petroleum's Eagle Ford Drilling Time Down To Ten Days

Goodrich isn't alone. Many operators have lowered their drilling time by ~50% or more in the past two years. That has allowed larger operators to drop rigs while still drilling the same amount of wells.

*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]A total of 35 rigs are targeting natural gas. That's roughly half the number of rigs Baker Hughes had designated for targeting natural gas at the beginning of the year.

Natural gas prices were up a little to more on the week to $4.25/mmbtu. It's been a rocky May for natural gas prices. The commodity has traded up, then down, and is now back up to four and a quarter.

A total of 226 oil rigs are running in the region. WTI futures were down from the past two weeks to ~$94/bbl. Eagle Ford light crude traded at $90.75/bbl on May 22nd.

Karnes and La Salle counties lead development with 37 and 32 rigs running, respectively. See the full list of drilling by county at the bottom of the page.

South Texas Oil & Gas News:

• La Salle County Refinery Planned Near Gardendale
• New Chesapeake CEO Ran Anadarko's Eagle Ford Operations Previously
• Crimson Exploration Merges With Contango Oil
• Goodrich Petroleum's Eagle Ford Drilling Time Down To 10 Days

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Eagle Ford Shale Drilling by County

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.