The Eagle Ford Shale drilling rig count jumped five to 241 active drilling rigs. That's higher than the Eagle Ford era record of 239 that we hit twice over the past two months. The number of natural gas rigs working increase six to 124, while losing one oil rig to fall to 117. Horizontal wells account for 210 of the 241 rigs drilling in the South Texas region. Webb and Gonzales counties saw the largest jumps in the week by adding three and four rigs, respectively. Several rigs moved around in the play, but no county lost more than two rigs during the week.

Chesapeake Energy (29) and EOG Resources (21) are the only operators with more than 20 rigs active in the play.  23 companies have more than two active drilling units.

Be sure to visit the site frequently next week as we'll provide more updates than normal, while attending the oil & gas conference in San Antonio on Tuesday (Oct 11) and Wednesday (Oct 12). You can also follow us on Twitter @EagleFord_Shale.

Eagle Ford News from the past week:

"Double" was the key term - Koch's staff in S. TX and Eagle Ford production are expected to double in 2011. Nothing short of biblical prophecy would have predicted a Beeville, TX, career fair would have 1,000 open jobs and 2,000 visitors seeking employment.

• GeoResources Operations Update - Well results, 2012 drilling, and the Austin Chalk
• Gulf Coast Refineries Are Benefitting From Eagle Ford Crude

Stay tuned each week for an update on the South Texas rig count.

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 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.

Drilling Rigs by County