The Eagle Ford Shale rig count fell by four this week ending with 86 rigs running across our coverage area by midday Friday.

In recent Eagle Ford news, lower oil prices and the drop in oil field activity have continued to impact the economy, with the Texas Economic Activity Index declining for a 10th straight month in August.

Read more: Texas Economy Declines

A total of 771 oil and gas rigs were running across the United States this week. 199 were targeting natural gas (two more than the previous week) and 572were targeting oil in the U.S. (five less than the previous week). The remainder were drilling service wells (e.g. disposal wells, injection wells, etc.)340 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

Natural gas rigs in the Eagle Ford remained at 12 this week as natural gas prices rose slightly, trading at $2.37/mmbtu, a $.04 increase from the previous week.

The oil rig count dropped to 74 with WTI oil prices ending the week at $44.29, a decrease of $2.06. A total of 81 rigs are drilling horizontal wells, one are drilling directional wells, and four are vertical rigs. Karnes County leads the region in development with 21 rigs this week. See the full list below in the Eagle Ford Shale Drilling by County below.

Eagle Ford Shale Drilling by County

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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