The Eagle Ford Shale rig count increased by two rigs to 263 running this past week. We're in the home stretch and holiday season of the year, so it will be a surprise to see any significant shift in the rig count the next five weeks.

The region hit a low in terms of rigs targeting natural gas. Just 23 rigs are drilling for gas in the region. That's a multi-year low.

Devon made a big splash in the Eagle Ford by acquiring GeoSouthern Energy's Eagle Ford acreage for $6 billion. There was a lot of chatter about the price paid per acre being a record, but it is very difficult to compare prices paid for properties that were largely non-producing a couple of years ago to a property that is producing 53,000 boe/d today. No one outside of Devon knows how they valued the non-producing acreage acquired, but the smart money says they paid $20,000-25,0000/acre, with more than $4 billion attributed to production. Read more in the article: Devon - GeoSouthern Reach Eagle Ford Deal Worth $6 Billion

The U.S. rig count decreased 1 rig from 1,762 to 1,761 running over the past week. A total of 369 rigs are targeting natural gas (1 less than last week) and 1,387 (2 more than last week) are targeting oil in the U.S. The remainder are drilling service wells (e.g. disposal wells, injection wells, etc.). 831 or 47% of rigs active in the U.S. are 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 (226 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

[ic-l]The natural gas rig count fell six to 23 rigs running over the past week. That is a low in the Eagle Ford region and almost half the average of 42 rigs that have been targeting natural gas so far in 2013. Natural gas prices were up about ten cents during the week and were trading around $3.75/mmbtu on Friday. With the recent cold sweeping through the country, this might be the lowest we see prices for a while.

The oil rig count increased 9 rigs to 239. Many of the rigs were simply reclassified from targeting natural gas to oil. WTI oil prices were trading around $95/bbl to end the week and Eagle Ford light crude traded at $91.25/bbl on Nov. 22nd.

A total of 231 rigs are drilling horizontal wells, 14 rigs are drilling directional wells, and 18 rigs are drilling true vertical wells. Karnes, DeWitt, La Salle, Gonzales, McMullen and Webb counties all have between 25 and 32 rigs running. See the full list of drilling by county below.

South Texas Oil & Gas News:

• Cotulla Getting $9 Million Airport Expansion
• Rosetta Hasn't Completed 23% of Its Drilled Eagle Ford Wells
• Devon Acquires GeoSouthern's Eagle Ford Assets for $6 Billion
• NET Midstream Gets FERC Approval for Eagle Ford to Mexico Pipeline
• How Thick Is the Eagle Ford?

Be sure to visit our South Texas Oilfield Job Listings to search openings and come back weekly for updates or sign up for alerts - Daily or Weekly Email Alerts

Eagle Ford Shale Drilling by County

Eagle Ford Operated Rig Count By Company

SmithBits no longer reports its operated rig count, but we'll have updated number for you from a new source soon. Until then, you can reference our numbers from mid-April. There has not been a significant change in the overall rig count since this date:

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 and/or Smith Service Co's (Schlumberger) Smith Rig Count.