The Eagle Ford Shale rig count decreased by six to 265 rigs running across our coverage area by the end of last week.

In recent news, Penn Virginia Corp. announced in July of 2014 that it will acquire ~13,125 (11,660 net) Eagle Ford acres in Lavaca County, TX for $45-million. The transaction will bring the company’s total Eagle Ford position to 142,500 (101,800 net) acres. The newly acquired assets are located next to the company’s Shiner area. Officials estimate ~150 gross potential drilling locations from the acquired acreage, most of which will be prospective for the Upper Eagle Ford Shale.

Read more: Penn Virginia Acquires Eagle Ford Acreage - $45 Million

The U.S. rig count decreased by four to 1,871 rigs running by the end of last week. A total of 315 rigs were targeting natural gas (four more than the previous week) and 1,554 were targeting oil in the U.S. (nine less than the previous week). The remainder were drilling service wells (e.g. disposal wells, injection wells, etc.). 888or ~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 (212 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 increased by one to 10 rigs running by the end of last week. Average rig counts for natural gas production in 2012 were around 80 and then dropped to around 40 in 2013. Natural gas prices fell from the previous week to $3.95/mmbtu on Friday afternoon.

The oil rig count decreased by seven to 255 rigs running by the end of last week. WTI oil prices increased by ~$2 from the previous week, trading at $102.97/bbl on Friday afternoon. Eagle Ford light crude traded at $99.75/bbl on July 18th.

A total of 240 rigs are drilling horizontal wells, 11 rigs are drilling directional wells, and 14 rigs are drilling vertical wells. Karnes, La Salle, and De Witt each have at minimum 30 rigs running. La Salle County has the highest rig count this week at 33. See the full list below in the Eagle Ford Shale Drilling by County below

South Texas Oil & Gas News:

• Penn Virginia Acquires Eagle Ford Acreage - $45 Million
• Cardinal Energy Group Acquires 2,800 Net Eagle Ford Acres
• Riches from the Eagle Ford Boom - Video
• Swift Energy - PT Saka Energi Close Eagle Ford JV Deal

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.