New Pipeline System Coming to the Eagle Ford

January 10, 2018 Elizabeth Alford

Texas Pipeline Map: Provided by Energy Information Administration

McMullen County, in the heart of the Eagle Ford shale play, will be the site of a new gathering pipeline system soon.

Houston-based EVX Midstream Partners plans to construct and operate the pipeline to serve producers in the Eagle Ford region of south Texas.

This initiative, expected to be in service by Q2, will expand the company's Eagle Ford operations significantly.

“We are pleased to continue executing our multi commodity development plans in the Eagle Ford. This new-build large diameter gathering system complements our existing assets, adds a substantial long-term acreage dedication to our portfolio and will ultimately allow us to serve a broader base of customers.”

— Herb Chambers IV, President and CEO of EVX

The pipeline system will cover over approximately 20,000 acres and will connect to the Eagle Ford JV Pipeline. CEO, Herb Chambers, said the company is evaluating additional growth opportunities in the Eagle Ford.

Earlier this year, analysts were speculating that Texas would need additional pipeline infrastructure to handle the increased production streaming from the Permian Basin.

Texas Pipeline Facts (EIA):

Texas is the top ranked natural gas consuming State.
Intrastate pipelines in Texas account for 45,000 of the 58,600 miles of natural gas pipelines in the State.
The largest intrastate pipelines in Texas are Enterprise Texas Pipeline Company (8,750 miles) and the Energy Transfer Partners LP (8,800 miles).
The intrastate network in Texas has experienced significant growth over the past several years as a result of increased demand for pipeline capacity caused by the rapid development and expansion of natural gas production in the Barnett Shale Formation.
New pipelines have been built, and expansions to existing ones undertaken, to meet increased demand.

Eagle Ford Shale Rig Count Rose 35% in 2017

January 6, 2018 Elizabeth Alford

Rig counts across the country rose significantly throughout 2017 and 35% in the Eagle Ford Shale. At the end of 2016, total U.S. rigs were at 657 and 55 of those were running in the Eagle Ford.

The Eagle Ford Shale rig count rose sharply in the first two quarters of 2017, reaching a yearly high of 101 rigs in May. After a decline over the summer, the rig count floundered in the 80s through much of the fall.

Moving into the new year, the Eagle Ford Shale rig count had 83 rigs running across our coverage area by midday Friday.

A total of 924 oil and gas rigs were running across the United States this week. 182 rigs were targeting natural gas and 742 were targeting oil in the U.S.. The remainder were drilling service wells (e.g. disposal wells, injection wells, etc.) 454 of the rigs active in the U.S. were running in Texas.

In recent Eagle Ford news, Texas Railroad Commissioner Wayne Christian takes news media to task for spreading 'fake' news about the Commission's record on protecting the public and environment.

RRC's Christian Strikes Back at 'Fake' News

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

9 rigs in the Eagle Ford region targeted natural gas this week with the commodity trading at $2.80/mmbtu.

74 Eagle Ford rigs were targeting oil with WTI oil prices at $61.44.

A total of 80 rigs are drilling horizontal wells, zero are drilling directional and three are vertical.

Karnes County leads activity in the region with 16 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 Rig Count by County-January 5, 2018

Eagle Ford Shale News

RRC's Christian Strikes Back at 'Fake' News

Well Completions Drop Dramatically in Texas

Carrizo Sells Eagle Ford Assets for $245 million

Oil and Gas Production Declines Across Texas

Oil and Gas Operators Fined $11,077,280 in 2017

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.

RRC's Christian Strikes Back at 'Fake' News

January 3, 2018 Elizabeth Alford

Texas Railroad Commissioner Wayne Christian takes news media to task for spreading 'fake' news about the Commission's record on protecting the public and environment.

EPA Commends Texas for Protecting Water

Christian wrote an editorial last week in the Dallas Morning News (DMN) to counter falsehoods spread by the news agency and others. The most recent incident involved the DMN's claims that the Commission turns a blind eye to science.

“While the Railroad Commission is clearly doing its job of protecting the public, environmental extremists have engaged in fake news campaigns to twist these facts as part of their proxy war against fossil fuels. The RRC has been diligent about distributing information regarding these issues, but for the most part studies with good news, such as the recent EPA reports, have been largely ignored by the mainstream media”

— Texas Railroad Commissioner Wayne Christian

The editorial defended the RRC's record of protecting the public, saying its decisions are made based on sound science over politics. According to Christian, the Railroad Commission:

Is a leader in seismicity research
Is a leader in protecting our underground water
Has created some of the most stringent rules on disposal wells
Completed an exhaustive review of nearly 63,000 injection-well applications found RRC-permitted injection wells are not polluting any sources of underground drinking water

Earlier this month, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recognized the Texas Railroad Commission for its work to protect underground sources of drinking water.

Read the full editorial here.

Carrizo Sells Eagle Ford Assets for $245 million

December 21, 2017 Elizabeth Alford

Carrizo Oil and Gas announced last week they will sell a portion of its Eagle Ford assets for $245 million to EP Energy Corp.

EPA Commends Texas for Protecting Water

The sale includes approximately 24,500 net acres and represents almost a quarter of the company's Eagle Ford holdings. Production for the assets in the 3rd quarter was 3,400 Boe/d, less than 10% of the Company’s total in the Eagle Ford Shale.

“Our activity in the Eagle Ford Shale is expected to be focused on the updip volatile oil window of the play. Given this, we believe it made sense to bring the value of these assets forward and use the proceeds to further strengthen our balance sheet by retiring additional debt. Combined with our previously-announced, non-core divestitures, this transaction brings the total announced proceeds from our divestiture program to approximately $530 million.”

— S.P. “Chip” Johnson, IV, Carrizo’s President and CEO

Houston-based, EP Energy purchased the assets, adding to its other Eagle Ford holdings of 91,675 acres

After the sale closes in January 2018, Carrizo will maintain 78,500 net acres in the Eagle Ford Shale.

Over the last year, the company closed sales of assets in the Utica and Marcellus shale fields and announced the sale of its Denver-Julesburg Basin assets, all to pay off debt.

Carrizo executives announced in the first quarter that it planned to invest heavily in the Eagle Ford with 85% of the company's drilling and completion capital expenditures allocated to Play.

Well Completions Drop Dramatically in Texas

December 20, 2017 Elizabeth Alford

Texas oil and gas operators are on track to complete fewer wells this year than ever before.

Eagle Ford Shale Rig Count Drops to 83

For January-November 2017, the Texas Railroad Commission (RRC) issued 11795 oil and gas permits, a steep increase over the 7,104 for the same time period of 2016.

While permits have increased, completion rates dropped dramatically and 2017 may see the fewest wells completed since before 2008, the earliest record published by the agency.

For November 2017, the RRC issued 1,187 original drilling permits, compared to 673 in November 2016. The breakdown includes:

955 new oil or gas wells permits
11 to re-enter plugged well bores permits
221 for re-completions of existing wells permits
358 oil, 66 gas, 682 oil or gas, 57 injection, zero service and 24 other permits

The Midland area continues to lead development for November, with the RRC issuing 657 to the region. Next was the San Antonio region with 131 oil and gas permits issued.

The RRC also reports that there have been 27 new field discoveries since the beginning of the year; 15 oil and 12 natural gas."In November 2017, Commission staff processed 388 oil, 74 gas, 29 injection and one other completions compared to 342 oil, 151 gas, 24 injection and one other completions in November 2016. Total well completions processed for 2017 year to date are 6,291; down from 9,923 recorded during the same period in 2016."

— Texas Railroad Commission November Report