The Eagle Ford Shale drilling rig count jumped back to 274 working this past week. For the second week in a row, it looks like Webb County led the way in terms of change. The county added back six rigs in the last week. Last week looks to be just a blip in the rig count statistics. One of two things likely accounted for the drop last week. The rigs were either in some stage between wells and not counted, or there was a mistake in the census last week. We did confirm Lewis Petroleum's rig count statistics from last week were just a blip on the radar. The company contacted us to say that they still have 11 rigs working and have additional rigs ordered. That means the actual rig count is 277 rigs (3 higher than this weeks reported number).
Eagle Ford Oil & Gas Rigs
The natural gas directed rig count grew 4 rigs up to 71 running this week. The bounce was largely attributable to Webb County where 5 rigs were back in the rig count statistics. DeWitt with 17 and Webb with 19 lead the natural gas focused counties. Oil directed activity jumped to 202 rigs and set a new record in the Eagle Ford.
Natural gas prices look to be on a path to $1/mmbtu. Future prices for Henry Hub were trading at $1.97 as of Friday morning. That's a new low, again, for those keeping track. Oil prices remained flat right around $103 per barrel (WTI).
258 horizontal rigs are running and we have 1 storage well being drilled in La Salle County. Karnes County leads development with 43 rigs. La Salle (40), Webb (29), McMullen (27), DeWitt (26), Dimmit (25), Gonzales (23), Live Oak (11), and Atascosa (10), make up the top Eagle Ford counties.
News highlights this week included:
- There was Energy Symposium On Campus At U 0f H In Houston
- Truckers Are Wanted! CDLs Are In High Demand
- ZaZa Acquisition of Eaglebine Acreage From Range Resources
- The Chronicle did a nice write up on Life In the Eagle Ford
- Platinum Energy Solutions Is Adding a San Antonio Office That Will Add 200 Jobs
If you are headed to San Antonio/South Texas, visit our Eagle Ford Hotels page. We've negotiated discounted rates with hotels that are welcoming the Oil & Gas Industry.
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Drilling 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.
