The Eagle Ford Shale rig count climbed this week, with our data showing 61 rigs running across our coverage area by midday Friday.

In recent Eagle Ford news, the Texas Railroad Commission is facing a budget crunch as oil and gas prices continue to lag.

Read more: RRC Facing Budget Challenges

A total of 693 oil and gas rigs were running across the United States this week, 35 over last week. 142 rigs targeted natural gas (six more than the previous week) and 551 were targeting oil in the U.S. (29 more than the previous week). The remainder were drilling service wells (e.g. disposal wells, injection wells, etc.) 342 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 trading at $3.20/mmbtu.

52 Eagle Ford rigs were targeting oil with WTI oil prices increasing slightly to $53.22. 

A total of 52 rigs are drilling horizontal wells, one are drilling directional wells and nine are vertical.

Karnes County leads this week with 13 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

RRC Facing Budget Challenges

RRC’s Sitton Blasts EPA for Unnecessary Regulations

Swift Energy Cuts 56 Houston Jobs

Anadarko to Sell Eagle Ford Assets

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