Eagle Ford Shale From Space - Updated NASA Photo

A new Eagle Ford Shale satellite photo from NASA shows just how many rigs are active in the area. At the time the photo was taken there were about 260 rigs drilling in the area. Eagle Ford rigs account for almost 15% of all drilling in the U.S.

Eagle Ford From Space
Eagle Ford From Space

The Eagle Ford accounted for more than 10% of oil production in the U.S. in April of this year. The play has grown from producing virtually nothing in 2008 to more than 800,000 b/d of oil in early 2013.

For reference, metro area populations are noted below:

  • Dallas-Fort Worth - 6.5 million
  • Houston - 6.1 million
  • San Antonio - 2 million
  • Austin/San Marcos - 1.7 million

Have You Seen the Eagle Ford From Space?

Eagle Ford Shale From Space - NASA
Eagle Ford Shale From Space - NASA

The Eagle Ford development is big enough to see from space. New photos from NASA show just how big the Eagle Ford really is. The play rivals many metropolitan areas in visibility from space.

“You know its a big development when people start talking about what it looks like from space!! ”

The photos were taken by the Suomi NPP Satellite in April of 2012. You can watch a video showing city lights around the world at nasa.gov

At the time the photos were taken, there were almost 280 rigs active in the area and approximately 250 rigs were targeting the Eagle Ford formation.

Thank you to Terry Nance who noticed the visibility of the play in new photos released from NASA.