The Eagle Ford Shale rig count decreased by one rig to 262 running over the past week.

In recent news, Sanchez Energy' reserves increased from 20 million boe at year-end 2012 to 58.9 million boe on December 31, 2013. Reserves increased as a result of successful development in the Eagle Ford and multiple acquisitions during 2013.  Read more: Sanchez Energy's Reserves Near 60 Million Barrels - Production Surges in Q4

The U.S. rig count increased by 8 to 1,785 running over the past week. A total of 358 rigs are targeting natural gas (2 more than last week) and 1,422 are targeting oil in the U.S. (6 more than last week). The remainder are drilling service wells (e.g. disposal wells, injection wells, etc.). 842 or 47% 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 (214 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

[ic-l]The natural gas rig count increased by three rigs to 36 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 $4.85/mmbtu on Friday afternoon.

The oil rig count decreased by 4 to 225 rigs running. WTI oil prices increased slightly, trading at $97.73/bbl by the end of the week. Eagle Ford light crude traded at $94/bbl on January 31st.

A total of 230 rigs are drilling horizontal wells, 20 rigs are drilling directional wells, and 12 rigs are drilling true vertical wells. Karnes, DeWitt, La Salle, Dimmit and McMullen counties each have at minimum 25 rigs running. LaSalle County has the highest rig count this week at 30. See the full list below in the Eagle Ford Shale Drilling by County:

South Texas Oil & Gas News:

• Sanchez Energy's Reserves Near 60 Million Barrels - Production Surges in Q4
• Matador Eagle Ford Capital Budget to be $318 Million in 2014
• Murphy Oil's Eagle Ford Production Grows to 39,000 boe/d in 2013
• Valero Refinery Expansions Pushed Forward by Eagle Ford Production Growth - $730 Million

Be sure to visit our South Texas Oilfield Job Listings to search openings and come back weekly for updates or sign up for alerts - Daily or Weekly Email Alerts

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.