The Eagle Ford Shale drilling rig count decreased seven rigs to 240 active drilling rigs. That brings us below the record set last week. Approximately 200 of the rigs are targeting the Eagle Ford formation, while the remainder target formations such as the Austin Chalk, Buda Lime, and Pearsall shale. The number of natural gas rigs working decreased a whopping 14 rigs. That reflects the current softness in natural gas prices, which is trading at $3.60 per mcf. Six oil rigs were added during the week to bring the total to 128. Webb County contributed the bulk of the changes. Five rigs in the county shifted from gas to oil. Operators are telling us $90 oil is attractive and sub $4 natural gas is not.
One injection well is being drilled in Gonzales County and horizontal wells account for over 90% of drilling with 211 of the 240 rigs in the South Texas region.
Chesapeake Energy (27) and EOG Resources (22) are the only operators with more than 20 rigs active in the play. 36 companies have two or more crews running.
Earnings season has kicked off, so we heard results from a couple of Eagle Ford companies this week. The earthquake near Karnes County topped headlines on Thursday and Friday
- El Paso's Eagle Ford assets might be on the market
- KinderMorgan and Copano Energy announced their rich gas gathering system is running
- The Eagle Ford Task Force issued advice for trucks and pipelines
- Austin Exploration readies to spud a Burleson County Eagle Ford well
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 Shale. 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
