The Eagle Ford Shale drilling rig count fell three rigs to 268 this past week. KNES 5 in San Antonio stirred the pot this week when the organization reported that oil companies are threatening counties with lawsuits if they go forward with access and impact fees. You can watch the news report in the article Eagle Ford Oil Companies Fight Back - The State Should Share Revenues. The Texas Oil & Gas Association responded quickly to the report stating the organization had made no threats to sue any county in South Texas in regard to transportation fees. You can read the full response in the story TXOGA Responds to KENS 5 Story Regarding Lawsuit Threats.

As roads deteriorate, we'll see both oil companies and local constituents lobbying the state legislature to share oil and gas revenues more liberally with areas of development. Reference the map above to see how rig activity is disbursed across the region.

Eagle Ford Oil & Gas Rigs

The number of natural gas rigs running jumped up to 65 this week from 59 last week. McMullen County (10) rejoined the ranks of Karnes (13) and Webb (12) counties this week to be only areas with 10 or more gas rigs running. There are 200 oil rigs working, which 10 off the record we touched last week. As you can tell, most of those rigs simply shifted from oil to gas. We also have one disposal well being drilled in Leon County, TX.

Henry Hub futures were trading at ~$2.73 on Friday afternoon. That's roughly flat over last week, but down 10% over the past month. In contrast to the past few weeks, spot prices are now more in line with futures prices at $2.78/mmbtu.

WTI was trading at ~$96/bbl Friday afternoon and LLS crude prices are just above $112/bbl. We're now running on several weeks of gains in the oil market. Watch to see if prices surpass $100 per barrel and stay there.

There are 250 horizontal rigs running in the region. The three counties leading development are Karnes with 36 rigs, La Salle with 32 and McMullen with 30. Dimmit (27), DeWitt (22), Webb (21), Gonzales (17), Frio (12), Atascosa (11), and Live Oak (10) round out the top Eagle Ford counties.

News items this week included:

• Pleasanton's Eagle Ford Location Primes the Town for Growth
• Pioneer Has Cut Back Eagle Ford Dry Gas Drilling for the Third Time This Year

Thank you to Devorah Fox of Mike Byrnes & Assc. who contributed an article highlighting the Top Ten Characteristics of a Great Truck Driver.

Be sure to visit our Eagle Ford Shale Job Listings to search openings and come back weekly for updates or sign up for alerts.

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