Eagle Ford Shale regional drilling increased 8 rigs to 256 running the week before Christmas. La Salle and Dimmit counties were the big movers during the week. La Salle lost four rigs and Dimmit gained four rigs.
The story of the week was from a Wood Mackenzie press release discussing future development in the play. Eagle Ford Capital Spending makes the play the world's largest oil & gas development! Almost one-third of all upstream dollars spent in the US in 2013 will be allocated to developing the Eagle Ford. In less than four years, more than $100 billion will be spent developing the play.
Callan McMahon of Wood Mackenzie notes “Some of these numbers can be difficult to put into perspective, but $28 billion (2013) would put one at roughly the median country annual GDP.”
Eagle Ford Oil & Gas Rigs
The natural gas rig count held flat at 46 as gas traded up to ~$3.45 on Friday. Colder weather forecasts are helping prices, but it's going to take a cold snap across the country to get prices back up near $4. In a follow up from last week, ethane rejection is estimated to have added 400-500 mmcfd of gas to the system in the past few weeks.
The oil rig count grew by 8 rigs to reach 208 running in the area. WTI crude futures traded above $90 per bbl, but had fallen to $89 per barrel on Friday afternoon. Eagle Ford crude priced at $100/bbl on the 21st of December. Eagle Ford light crude and condensate in the area traded at $85 and $84, respectively.
There are 247 horizontal rigs running in the region and one storage well is being drilled in Zavala County.
La Salle County leads development with 35 rigs running. Karnes with 30 rigs, McMullen (27), Dimmit (26), Webb (22), Gonzales (22), DeWitt (19), Live Oak (12), Fayette (8), Lavaca (8), Atascosa (7), Frio (7), Madison (7), and Wilson (7) round out the top counties in the region. [ic-c] South Texas Oil & Gas News:
- NuStar and Conoco Ink Midstream Agreement
- NFR Energy Acquires Eagle Ford Acreage for $81 Million
- Eagle Ford Crude Oil Production Near 400,000 b/d in October 2012
- Eagle Ford Capital Spending Boost Play to World's Largest
Devorah Fox, of Mike Byrnes & Associates, penned an article discussing the need for Good CDL Drivers in South Texas. If you have drivers or are a driver in South Texas, it is a great read.
Be sure to visit our South Texas Oilfield Job Listings to search openings and come back weekly for updates.
Eagle Ford Rig Count by Operator
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 SmithBits 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.
Eagle Ford Shale Drilling by County
