The Eagle Ford Shale rig count decreased by four rigs to 263 running over the past week.

It's worth taking note that the state of Texas, due mainly to the lucrative Eagle Ford Shale, is positioned to be the eighth largest oil producer in the world by the end of the year. If the state stays on its current path it will surpass Iraq, Kuwait and Mexico by 2014. Read more here: Texas Could Be the Eighth Largest Oil Producer in the World by Year End

The U.S. rig count stayed flat at 1,777 running over the past week. A total of 356 rigs are targeting natural gas (9 less than last week) and 1,416 are targeting oil in the U.S. (8 more than last week). The remainder are drilling service wells (e.g. disposal wells, injection wells, etc.). 839 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 (216 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 decreased by two rigs to 33 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 rose slightly to ~$5/mmbtu on Friday afternoon.

The oil rig count decreased by 3 to 229 rigs running. WTI oil prices increased slightly, trading at $95.84/bbl by the end of the week. Eagle Ford light crude traded at $93.25/bbl on January 24th.

A total of 230 rigs are drilling horizontal wells, 19 rigs are drilling directional wells, and 14 rigs are drilling true vertical wells. Karnes, DeWitt, La Salle, Dimmit and McMullen counties each have at minimum 24 rigs running. LaSalle County has the highest rig count this week at 31. See the full list below in the Eagle Ford Shale Drilling by County:

South Texas Oil & Gas News:

• Texas Could be the Eighth Largest Oil Producer in the World by Year End
• Gulf Coast Western Planning Horizontal Buda Wells in Wilson County
• Comstock Resources Fourth Quarter Delays Push Eagle Ford Growth into 2014
• Ice Storms Hit the Eagle Ford

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.