The Eagle Ford Shale rig count increased by three rigs from 257 to 260 running this past week.

Several Eagle Ford operators began reporting earnings and giving operational updates. Sanchez is seeing record production, EXCO expects to speed up development in the coming months, and Swift Energy is testing completion methods that utilize much more fluid and proppant. You can read articles on all three in the South Texas Oil & Gas News section below.

The U.S. rig count increased 4 rigs from 1,738 to 1,742 running over the past week. A total of 360 rigs are targeting natural gas (16 less than last week) and 1,376 (19 more than last week) are targeting oil in the U.S. The remainder are drilling service wells (e.g. disposal wells, injection wells, etc.). 821 or 47% of rigs active in the U.S. are 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 (226 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

[ic-l]The natural gas rig count fell to 33 rigs running over the past week. Natural gas prices fell 5% over the past few days and were trading around $3.50/mmbtu on Friday.

The oil rig count increased by four rigs from 222 to 226. WTI oil prices were trading around $95/bbl to end the week. Oil prices have been falling for two weeks. Eagle Ford light crude traded at $93.00/bbl on Oct 31st.

A total of 229 rigs are drilling horizontal wells, 18 rigs are drilling directional wells, and 13 rigs are drilling true vertical wells. DeWitt, Karnes, Gonzales, La Salle, and McMullen counties all have between 25 and 32 rigs running. See the full list of drilling by county below.

South Texas Oil & Gas News:

• Port of Corpus Christi Booms on the Back of Eagle Ford Growth
• Swift Energy Is Pumping More Sand & Proppant in Eagle Ford Completions
• EXCO's Eagle Ford Results are Meeting Expectations & the Company Plans to Speed Up
• Eagle Ford Consortium Conference Kicks Off
• PetroEd Launches FREE Online Oilfield Training for High School Students
• Sanchez Energy Grows Eagle Ford Production Seven Fold

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Eagle Ford Shale Drilling by County

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.