Swift Shifts Assets to be Bigger Eagle Ford Player

November 22, 2016 Elizabeth Alford

Swift Energy Company plans to sell key operations to focus on the Eagle Ford.

Swift Energy has announced it has entered into an agreement to sell its Lake Washington field in South East Louisiana. The company wants to become a more focused Eagle Ford player and has identified over 400 high-quality drilling locations in the region.

Sale details include:

Closing expected in early December 2016
Cash consideration of $40.0 million upon closing
Approximately 14,000 net acres in Plaquemines Parish, includes 23 producing wells
Net sales of approximately 1,160 barrels of oil equivalent per day (97% oil)

“Swift has made several strategic moves this year to actively manage our portfolio and transform the company into a premier Eagle Ford producer, and today’s announcement is consistent with that strategy. We’ve had a tremendous amount of success with the development of our assets in South Texas, and this transaction allows us to focus exclusively on our very best rate of return projects.”

— Interim Chief Executive Officer Bob Banks

In Apirl, Swift emerged from bankruptcy and then announced the retirement of the company’s CEO and CFO in September.

Earthstone Q3: Six New Eagle Ford Wells

November 21, 2016 Elizabeth Alford

Earthstone Energy announces third quarter results including initiating the completion of its 12-well Eagle Ford inventory.

In May, Earthstone Energy allotted $4.0 million to spend on the Eagle Ford. Over the last three months, the company utilized that capitol to initiate the completion of 12 (5.3 net) Eagle Ford wells, which should be complete by the end of 2016. The company also brought four wells on-line in Karnes County and two wells within Fayette County.

Earthstone executives commented that they plan to re-establish our Eagle Ford drilling program early next year in southwestern Gonzales County that has the potential for 30 gross wells.

“Our accomplishments in the first half of 2016 have positioned us nicely to continue our growth in the second half of 2016. We are completing our 12-well Eagle Ford inventory and participating in a Wolfcamp well in Howard County which will lead to production growth in the fourth quarter of 2016 and first quarter of 2017. In addition, pending commodity prices, we anticipate resuming our operated Eagle Ford drilling program in the first quarter of 2017 in southwestern Gonzales County.”

— Frank A. Lodzinski, President and Chief Executive Officer

Third Quarter 2016 Summary

Average daily production of 3,979 Boepd
Total revenue of $11.1 million, which includes the effects of realized hedges
Net loss of $3.9 million
Adjusted EBITDAX(1) of $2.8 million

Devon Resumes Eagle Ford Completions

November 20, 2016 Elizabeth Alford

Devon Energy resumes Eagle Ford completion activity during third quarter 2016.

Devon Energy reported third quarter results earlier this month, highlighting outstanding performance for their operations and financial picture. The company’s development programs generated the best quarterly drill-bit results in Devon’s 45 year history.

Eagle Ford Operations

The company’s Eagle Ford operations has a net production of 61,000 Boe per day in the third quarter, with liquids accounting for 77% of Eagle Ford volumes. Completion activity in the Eagle Ford resumed in Q3 and 7 new wells were tied-in, with 30-day rates averaging a quarterly record of 2,700 Boe per day per well. Devon’s Eagle Ford operations continued to achieve significant cost savings during the quarter. LOE totaled $27 million in Q3, an improvement of >50% compared to peak costs in 2015.

“We’re real pleased with where we are in the Eagle Ford. And if you go back and look at the pace of our activity, it’s greatly slowed down in 2016 versus 2014 and early 2015. In fact, we were bringing on about 70 to 75 wells per quarter in that timeframe. In Q1 of this year, we were down to 22 wells brought on in the quarter. Second quarter there was only five, third quarter was only five. So we’ve seen the rate drop off there, but it is now stabilized, and we have four frac crews in the field that are lowering our DUC inventory down.”

— Dave Hager, president and CEO

Other Q2 highlights include:

Decreased lease operating expenses 37 percent from peak rates
Expected cost savings to reach $1 billion in 2016
Completed $3.2 billion asset divestiture program
Repurchased $1.2 billion of debt
Raising Meramec and Woodford type curves
Increased STACK production 38 percent year over year
Accelerating Delaware Basin rig activity
Wolfcamp drilling to ramp up in 2017
Jackfish complex production exceeds nameplate capacity
Total production averaged 577,000 oil-equivalent barrels (Boe) per day

Eagle Ford Rig Count at 45

November 19, 2016 Elizabeth Alford

The Eagle Ford Shale rig count increased again this week, with our data showing 45 rigs running across our coverage area by midday Friday.

In recent Eagle Ford news, Encana Corp. announced third quarter results including plans to add 100 new locations to its Eagle Ford portfolio.

A total of 587 oil and gas rigs were running across the United States this week, a gain of 20 over last week. 116 rigs targeted natural gas (one more than the previous week) and 471 were targeting oil in the U.S. (19 more than the previous week). The remainder were drilling service wells (e.g. disposal wells, injection wells, etc.) 276 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

Nine rigs in the Eagle Ford region targeted natural gas this week with the commodity dropping to $2.85/mmbtu.

36 Eagle Ford rigs were targeting oil with WTI oil prices increased to $45.69.

A total of 41 rigs are drilling horizontal wells, zero are drilling directional wells and four are vertical.

Karnes County jumped ahead of LaSalle this week with 9 rigs in production. See the full list below in the Eagle Ford Shale Drilling by County below.

Eagle Ford Shale Drilling by County

Eagle Ford Shale News

Maverick Oil and Gas Is Bullish on the Eagle Ford

Lonestar Gains Cash for Eagle Ford Develop

Encana to Add 100 New Eagle Ford Locations

Penn Virginia to Resume Eagle Ford Drilling

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.

Penn Virginia to Resume Eagle Ford Drilling

November 18, 2016 Elizabeth Alford

Penn Virginia Corp. has emerged from bankruptcy ready to resume activity in the Eagle Ford.

Related: Penn Virginia Files Chapter 11

On the heels of announcing they had completed restructuring required by the bankruptcy court, Houston-based Penn Virginia announced third quarter results last week.

Company executives said the company plan to restart Eagle Ford shale drilling by the end of November and will drill 16 to 19 net lower Eagle Ford wells in 2017.

Third quarter highlights include:

Production from the Company’s Eagle Ford operations was 889 MBOE or 9,659 BOEPD
75% of Eagle Ford production was from crude oil, 15% was from natural gas liquids (NGLs) and 10% was from natural gas
Production from Eagle Ford operations was 91% of total Company production
The Company did not drill or complete a well during the third quarter and the last completed well was brought to sales in February 2016
Restructuring reduced the Compay’s total long-term debt by approximately $1.1 billion.

“We anticipate resuming our development program running a one to two-rig program in 2017, targeting the drilling of 16 to 19 net lower Eagle Ford wells, with 13 to 16 net wells turned to sales during the year. We plan to concentrate our activity within our two-string, lower Eagle Ford area of development within Gonzales County and northwestern Lavaca County. We also plan to test our slickwater completion methodology down-dip in our three-string lower Eagle Ford higher pressured acreage as well as the upper Eagle Ford which is prevalent across our acreage.”

— John A. Brooks, Interim Principal Executive Officer and Chief Operating Office