The Eagle Ford Shale rig count rose by three, ending the week at 120 rigs running across our coverage area by midday Thursday.

In recent Eagle Ford news, the Texas Railroad Commission issued new  policies to protect Eagle Ford pipeline inspectors from drug smugglers and illegal immigrants.

Read more: Pipeline Inspectors May Soon Carry Guns

The U.S. rig count increased slightly, ending with 862 rigs running by midday Friday.  A total of 219 rigs were targeting natural gas (nine less than the previous week) and 640 were targeting oil in the U.S. (12 more than the previous week). The remainder were drilling service wells (e.g. disposal wells, injection wells, etc.)363 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 near the bottom of this article.

Eagle Ford Oil & Gas Rigs

Natural gas rigs in the Eagle Ford remained flat at 26 this week and natural gas prices traded at $2.81/mmbtu, an decrease of  $.05 from the previous week.

The oil rig count increased by three to 94 as WTI oil prices dropped to $56.72, a decrease of $2.91. A total of 110 rigs are drilling horizontal wells, one rig are drilling directional wells, and nine are vertical rigs. Karnes leads development this week running 21 rigs, with LaSalle (20), DeWitt (16) and Webb (16) follow closely. 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