The Eagle Ford Shale rig count held steady at 267 running over the past week.

This past week, Rosetta Resources announced that it will spend approximately two-thirds of its $1.1 billion budget in 2014 in the Eagle Ford.

The company will spend $735 million running 4-5 rigs, with plans to drill and complete 90-95 gross wells.

Read the full article: Rosetta Resources Plans to Spend $735 Million in the Eagle Ford in 2014

The U.S. rig count dropped by 14 rigs from 1,782 to 1,768 running over the past week. A total of 372 rigs are targeting natural gas (3 more than last week) and 1,395 (16 less than last week) are targeting oil in the U.S. The remainder are drilling service wells (e.g. disposal wells, injection wells, etc.). 845 or 48% 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 (229 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 increased three rigs to 30 running this past week. At this time in 2012, there were more than 60 rigs and in 2011 there were more than 90 rigs targeting natural gas in the area. Don't be surprised if this is the bottom and we see more natural gas rigs in 2014. Natural gas traded up $0.30 this week to ~$4.46/mmbtu on Friday afternoon.

The oil rig count decreased two rigs to 237 rigs running. WTI oil prices held basically flat on the week at just under $99/bbl. Eagle Ford light crude traded at $95.75/bbl on Dec. 20th.

A total of 229 rigs are drilling horizontal wells, 22 rigs are drilling directional wells, and 16 rigs are drilling true vertical wells. Karnes, DeWitt, La Salle, and McMullen counties all have between 28 and 32 rigs running. See the full list of drilling by county below.

South Texas Oil & Gas News:

• ConocoPhillips Is Increasing Eagle Ford Spending in 2014
• Rosetta Resources Plans to Spend $735 Million in the Eagle Ford in 2014
• Comstock Resources Focused on the Eagle Ford in 2014 – Almost $400 Million Planned
• Corpus Christi LNG Plant One Step Closer To Being Built – Cheniere
• Penn Virginia Sells Eagle Ford Midstream Assets to ArcLight Capital – $100 Million

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.