The Eagle Ford Shale rig count fell again this week, ending with40 rigs running across our coverage area by midday Friday.

In recent Eagle Ford news, Matador Resources CEO, Joseph Foran, said that the company has done virtually no drilling in the Eagle Ford this year and that the area is not as strategic to the company as it has been in the past. He also revealed that the company is open to opportunities to part with some or all of its Eagle Ford assets.

Read more: Matador Resources Open to Leaving Eagle Ford

A total of 487 oil and gas rigs were running across the United States this week, a decrease from last week of two. The losses were from rigs targeting natural gas, leaving 81 gas rigs running (two less than the previous week) and 406 were targeting oil in the U.S. (10 more than the previous week). The remainder were drilling service wells (e.g. disposal wells, injection wells, etc.) 237 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

6 rigs in the region targeted natural gas this week with the commodity trading at $2.87/mmbtu.

The Eagle Ford rigs targeting oil rose to 34 with WTI oil prices dipping $0.88 to $47.64 . 

A total of 37 rigs are drilling horizontal wells, one is drilling directional wells and three are vertical.

Karnes County moved back into the top spot this week with eight rigs in operation. See the full list below in the Eagle Ford Shale Drilling by County below.

Eagle Ford Shale Drilling by County

Eagle Ford Shale News

Clayton Williams: No Eagle Ford Drilling at $50

Lonestar Resources: Focused on Eagle Ford Shale

Matador Resources Open to Leaving Eagle Ford

Karnes County Couple Sues Marathon Oil

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