The Eagle Ford Shale rig count decreased by four to 263 rigs running across our coverage area by the end of last week.
In recent Eagle Ford news, ConocoPhillips increased its Eagle Ford reserve estimates in early April 2014 by 39% from 1.8 billion to 2.5 billion bbls of oil in place. Company officials say production is expected to exceed 250,000 boe/d in the Eagle Ford by 2017. That’s nearly 100,000 more BOE than the company’s target goal at the end of 2013.
Read more: ConocoPhillips Raises Eagle Ford Reserve Estimates By 39% to 2.5 Billion BOE
The U.S. rig count stayed flat at 1831 rigs running by the end of last week. A total of 316 rigs were targeting natural gas (6 more than the previous week) and 1,510 were targeting oil in the U.S. (7 less than the previous week). The remainder were drilling service wells (e.g. disposal wells, injection wells, etc.). 884or ~48% of rigs active in the U.S. were running in Texas.
Baker Hughes rig count is quoted here. Baker Hughes also releases its own Eagle Ford Rig Count that covers the 14 core counties (217 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
The natural gas rig count remained flat at 16 rigs running by the end of last week. Average rig counts for natural gas production in 2012 were around 82 and then dropped to around 41 in 2013. Natural gas prices stayed relatively flat from last week at $4.76/mmbtu on Friday afternoon.
The oil rig count decreased by 4 to 247 rigs running by the end of last week. WTI oil prices increased slightly, trading at $104.35/bbl on Friday afternoon. Eagle Ford light crude traded at $100.75/bbl on April 17th.
A total of 229 rigs are drilling horizontal wells, 21 rigs are drilling directional wells, and 13 rigs are drilling vertical wells. Karnes, La Salle, Dimmit, McMullen and Webb counties each have at minimum 25 rigs running. Karnes County has the highest rig count this week at 29. See the full list below in the Eagle Ford Shale Drilling by County:
South Texas Oil & Gas News:
- ConocoPhillips Raises Eagle Ford Reserve Estimates By 39% to 2.5 Billion BOE
- Eagle Ford Study Shows Significant Increase in Pollution Through 2018
- BHP Focused on Liquids Production in Black Hawk Region for Remainder of 2014
- Lucas Energy Sells Stock for Cash As It Attempts to Regain Compliance with NYSE
Be sure to visit our South Texas Oilfield Job Listings to search openings and come back weekly for updates.
Eagle Ford Shale Drilling by Count
Eagle Ford Operated Rig Count By Company
SmithBits no longer reports its operated rig count, but we'll have updated number for you from a new source soon. Until then, you can reference our numbers from mid-April. There has not been a significant change in the overall rig count since this date:
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 and/or Smith Service Co's (Schlumberger) Smith Rig Count.
