The Eagle Ford Shale rig count decreased by six to 261 rigs running over the past week.

In recent news, EOG Resources joint venture with ZaZa Energy moves into its third and final phase in the Eaglebine. ZaZa will receive $15 million and an additional two-well drilling commitment from EOG. As part of the agreement, EOG must begin drilling the first of two wells by July 1, 2014. In exchange, EOG will gain a 75% working interest in all of Zaza's remaining acreage.

Read more: EOG Resources - ZaZa Energy Move into Third and Final Phase of Joint Venture Agreement

The U.S. rig count decreased by six to 1803 rigs running over the past week. A total of 326 rigs are targeting natural gas (18 less than last week) and 1,473 are targeting oil in the U.S. (12 more than last week). The remainder are drilling service wells (e.g. disposal wells, injection wells, etc.). 858or ~48% of rigs active in the U.S. are running in Texas.

Baker Hughes rig count is quoted here. Baker Hughes also releases its own Eagle Ford Rig Count that covers the 14 core counties (219 rigs). The rig count published on EagleFordShale.com 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

The natural gas rig count decreased by 14 to 24 rigs running this past week. Average rig counts for natural gas production in 2012 were around 82 and then dropped to around 41 in 2013. Over the past week, natural gas decreased slightly to $4.31/mmbtu on Friday afternoon.

The oil rig count increased by eight to 237 rigs running. WTI oil prices decreased, trading at $99.56/bbl by the end of the week. Eagle Ford light crude traded at $96.00/bbl on March 21st.

A total of 226 rigs are drilling horizontal wells, 19 rigs are drilling directional wells, and 16 rigs are drilling vertical wells. Karnes, La Salle, Dimmit, McMullen and Webb counties each have at minimum 22 rigs running. Karnes County has the highest rig count this week at 34. See the full list below in the Eagle Ford Shale Drilling by County:

South Texas Oil & Gas News:

• Clayton Williams Grew Eagle Ford Oil Production ~430% in Fourth-Quarter of 2013
• Fracking Turns 65 - Eagle Ford Shale Drilling Boom Made Possible by the Technology
• Goodrich Petroleum's Eagle Ford Capital Budget Increases for 2014
• Aresco LP Sells Eagle Ford Wells to Halcón Resources
• EOG Resources - ZaZa Energy Move into Third and Final Phase of Joint Venture Agreement

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.