The Eagle Ford Shale rig count decreased by four to average 269 rigs running over the past week. Thankfully, no one was hurt, but there is one less Nabors rig working in the region.  Crews lost well control and experienced a blowout while working on an Eagle Ford well being drilled in Petersville, TX, near Shiner and Yoakum. The well is operated by EOG Resources. Everyone was accounted for and no injuries were reported.

The U.S. rig count was flat at 1,776, but several rigs moved from drilling natural gas to oil. A total of 380 rigs are targeting natural gas and 1,388 are targeting oil in the U.S. The remainder are drilling service wells (e.g. disposal wells, injection wells, etc.). 846 rigs are running in Texas.

*Note* Now quoting Baker Hughes. Baker Hughes also releases its own Eagle Ford Rig Count that covers the 14 core counties (~231 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 increased by four to reach 44 rigs. We're talking small numbers, but that's still up almost 50% from the low near 30 seen in April and June. Natural gas futures were trading around $3.60/mmbtu on Friday afternoon.

The oil rig count decreased by nine rigs to 224 running in the region. WTI oil prices were trading near $108/bbl and have held above $100 for eight weeks. Eagle Ford light crude traded at $104/bbl on August 30th.

A total of 219 rigs are drilling horizontal wells, 36 rigs are drilling directional wells, and just 14 rigs are drilling true vertical wells. Karnes and McMullen counties lead development with 35 and 34 rigs running, respectively. See the full list of drilling by county below.

South Texas Oil & Gas News:

• Eagle Ford Well Blowout Near Petersville, TX
• Heard At The Eagle Ford Well & Frac Design Conference
• Is Eagle Ford Oil Production Causing Earthquakes?
• Murphy Oil's Liquids Production Grows 30% Thanks to the Eagle Ford
• Trophy Oaks Subdivision Lots Hit the Auction Block - Atascosa County

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

agle 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.