The Eagle Ford Shale rig count grew this week, with our data showing 53 rigs running across our coverage area by midday Friday.

In recent Eagle Ford news, Baytex Energy announces that 70% of its 2017 capital expenditures will be directed to its Eagle Ford operations.

Read more: Baytex Energy to Spend 70% of 2017 Capex in Eagle Ford

A total of 637 oil and gas rigs were running across the United States this week, a gain of 14 over last week. 126 rigs targeted natural gas (one more than the previous week) and 510 were targeting oil in the U.S. (12 more than the previous week). The remainder were drilling service wells (e.g. disposal wells, injection wells, etc.) 317 of the rigs active in the U.S. were running in Texas.

Baker Hughes reports its own Eagle Ford Rig Count that covers the 14 core counties. 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 below.

Eagle Ford Oil & Gas Rigs

Nine rigs in the Eagle Ford region targeted natural gas this week with the commodity dipping to $3.42/mmbtu.

44 Eagle Ford rigs were targeting oil with WTI oil prices gaining slightly to $51.90. 

A total of 48 rigs are drilling horizontal wells, zero are drilling directional wells and five are vertical.

Karnes County leads this week with 14 rigs in production. See the full list below in the Eagle Ford Shale Drilling by County below.

Eagle Ford Shale Drilling by County

Eagle Ford Shale News

Wildhorse Development Corp. Goes Public

New Eagle Ford Refinery to Bring Jobs

Baytex Energy to Spend 70% of 2017 Capex in Eagle Ford

Eagle Ford Couple Loses Claim in Texas Courts

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.

Read more at bakerhughes.com