The Eagle Ford Shale rig count decreased by 10 to 201 rigs running across our coverage area by the end of last week.

In recent Eagle Ford news, troubled Lucas Energy sets its eyes on a merger. Just days after revealing it had defaulted on a massive $7.7 million dollar debt,  the company executed a letter of intent for a proposed business combination with Victory Energy Corporation. This is the preliminary step to an official merger agreement that allows the companies to negotiate exclusively. Part of the agreement will be to provide for the capital necessary for Lucas to satisfy its obligations for its Eagle Ford wells, accounts payable and necessary working capital.

Read more: Lucas Energy to Join with Victory

The U.S. rig count fell another 87 to 1456  rigs running by the end of last week. A total of 314 rigs were targeting natural gas (down 2 from the previous week) and 1,317 1140 were targeting oil in the U.S. (177 less than the previous week). The remainder were drilling service wells (e.g. disposal wells, injection wells, etc.).654 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 (181 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

Natural gas increased by one to 19 rigs running by the end of last week. Natural gas prices decreased by $.11 from the previous week at $2.58/mmbtu on Friday afternoon.

The oil rig count decreased by 10 to 21 rigs running by the end of last week. WTI oil prices increased by $3.45 from the previous week, trading at $51.69/bbl on Friday afternoon. A total of 189 rigs are drilling horizontal wells, three rigs are drilling directional wells, and nine rigs are drilling vertical wells. Karnes (31), Dimmit (26), and DeWitt (23) have the highest rig counts this week. See the full list below in the Eagle Ford Shale Drilling by County below

Eagle Ford Shale Drilling by County

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