The Eagle Ford Shale drilling rig count jumped 5 rigs to 248 over the past week. That's one above the 247 rig record we hit in the middle of October.  Approximately, 200 rigs are working in the Eagle Ford formation, that's up from less than 20 just 18 months ago. As long as the economy holds together, we should continue to see more active drilling units targeting the play. We lost 4 natural gas rigs to bring us down to 102 active. With natural gas futures prices hovering around $3.60 that trend isn't likely to change soon.  In the continued shift from gas to oil, 9 rigs moved to drilling liquids in the region. We also have one disposal well being drilled in Webb County. Webb (37), La Salle (32) , Karnes (30) and DeWitt (22) counties account for more than 50% of Eagle Ford drilling.

Chesapeake Energy (28) and EOG Resources (24) lead the more than 60 operators that have active programs in the shale.

News throughout the play this past week included:

• UT - Hydraulic Fracturing Does Not Relate to Drinking Water Contamination
• KKR Continues Agressive Shale Strategy

Operator News:

• Rosetta Is Planning For 65-Acre Well Spacing
• Plains All American - Equipment Delays and Midstream Margin Pressure
• Carrizo Oil & Gas - Slowed By Gathering and Service Delay

Stay tuned each week for an update on the South Texas rig count. 

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.

Drilling Rigs by County