This week the Eagle Ford Shale rig count is up four rigs to 233 active drilling rigs. The number of natural gas rigs working increased by two to 106 working, while the oil rig count jumped from 124 active rigs to 126. One rig is drilling a storage well in Milam County, TX. Horizontal rigs account for 205 of the 233 rigs drilling in the South Texas region. Even with the stock market fluctuating, activity has held strong. If the commodity markets stay down, expect the rig count to lag by at least a few weeks and up to three months. Often drilling contracts are in place for multiple wells and operators don't have the ability to slam on the brakes at a moments notice.

In another week of earnings releases, we had several companies detail well performance in targets that are secondary to the Eagle Ford. Gastar's EagleBine wells disappointed, but there were positive results in Goodrich Petroleum's Buda Lime well tests and Swift Energy's Olmos success has added a prolific secondary drilling target. Rosetta Resources announced it will test 50-acre spacing in an early attempt to establish full downspacing potential in the Eagle Ford. The Eagle Ford Job Market is hot, but it risks being cooled off by a lack of water. Concerns are being raised as South Texas experiences the second worst drought on record.

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Drilling Rig Count by County

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.