The Eagle Ford Shale rig count decreased by seven to 262 rigs running across our coverage area by the end of last week.

In recent Eagle Ford news, Houston-based Sanchez Energy Corporation announced in May of 2014 that it has entered a deal with Royal Dutch Shell subsidiaries in the Eagle Ford to purchase 106,000 net acres for $639-million. The acquisition increases Sanchez’s total net Eagle Ford acreage to 226,000, and adds 60 MMBOE of proved reserves, nearly doubling the company’s acreage position and proved reserves in the play.

Read more: Sanchez Nearly Doubles Eagle Ford Acreage in $265 Million Deal with Shell

The U.S. rig count decreased by four to 1,857 rigs running by the end of last week. A total of 325 rigs were targeting natural gas (one less than the previous week) and 1,528 were targeting oil in the U.S. (three less than the previous week). The remainder were drilling service wells (e.g. disposal wells, injection wells, etc.). 889or ~48% of rigs active in the U.S. were running in Texas.

Baker Hughes rig count is quoted here. Baker Hughes also releases its own Eagle Ford Rig Count that covers the 14 core counties (213 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

The natural gas rig count decreased by one to 13 rigs running by the end of last week. Average rig counts for natural gas production in 2012 were around 82 and then dropped to around 41 in 2013. Natural gas prices stayed relatively flat from the previous week at $4.40/mmbtu on Friday afternoon.

The oil rig count decreased by six to 249 rigs running by the end of last week. WTI oil prices increased by ~$2, trading at $104.37/bbl on Friday afternoon. Eagle Ford light crude traded at $100.75/bbl on May 23rd.

A total of 235 rigs are drilling horizontal wells, 12 rigs are drilling directional wells, and 15 rigs are drilling vertical wells. Karnes, La Salle, De Witt, and Webb counties each have at minimum 26 rigs running. Karnes County has the highest rig count this week at 36. See the full list below in the Eagle Ford Shale Drilling by County below

South Texas Oil & Gas News:

• Cabot Oil & Gas To Expand Eagle Ford Drilling Program
• Koch Expands its Eagle Ford Crude Oil Pipeline System
• Sanchez Nearly Doubles Eagle Ford Acreage in $265 Million Deal with Shell
• Karnes County Couple Fights for Eagle Ford Shale Property - Video

Be sure to visit our South Texas Oilfield Job Listings to search openings and come back weekly for updates.

Eagle Ford Shale Drilling 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 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.