Marathon Oil is increasing its pace of development in the Eagle Ford. The company currently has 18 rigs running and announced plans to add 2 more in short order. With four dedicated frac crews, the company expects to complete 16 to 20 wells per month going forward. Spud-to-spud drill times have fallen to 25 days per well. With additional declines in drill time possible, it's not far stretch to believe the company will be bringing 20+ wells online per month by the end of the year.

Production will follow in step. The company brought on over 1,000 boe/d per week in April and will potentially eclipse 50,000 boe/d of production by the end of the year. That's almost triple rates from mid-year 2011.

Marathon has been one of the most active companies in the Eagle Ford since its $3.5 billion acquisition of Hilcorp Resource's acreage in mid-2011. The company has continued to add to holdings.  In early May, Marathon announced a $750 million acquisition of Paloma Partners II's Eagle Ford acreage.

The company also expects to spend over $200 million on midstream and pipeline infrastructure in 2012.

Read more at ourMarathon Oil Eagle Ford page