The Eagle Ford Shale rig count increased by two rigs to 265 running during Thanksgiving week. The natural gas rig count held at an Eagle Ford era low of just 23 and the oil rig count matched a high with 241 rigs drilling for liquids.

The biggest announcement of the week was Comstock Resources reaching a deal with Ursa Resources for 20,000 net acres and ~400 boe/d in Burleson and Washington counties. Read more in the article: Comstock - Ursa Resources Reach Eagle Ford Deal for $66.5 Million

The U.S. rig count increased two rigs from 1,761 to 1,763 running over Thanksgiving week. A total of 367 rigs are targeting natural gas (2 less than last week) and 1,391 (4 more than last week) are targeting oil in the U.S. The remainder are drilling service wells (e.g. disposal wells, injection wells, etc.). 834 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 (227 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 held at 23 rigs running over the past week. That's almost half the average of 42 rigs that have been targeting natural gas so far in 2013. Natural gas prices were up about fifteen cents during the week and were trading around $3.90/mmbtu on Friday. With gas prices approaching $4, I suspect the natural gas rig count is near a theoretical bottom in the Eagle Ford.

The oil rig count increased 2 rigs to 241. That matches the all time high set in July of this year. WTI oil prices were trading around $93/bbl to end the week and Eagle Ford light crude traded at $89.25/bbl on November 29th.

A total of 231 rigs are drilling horizontal wells, 16 rigs are drilling directional wells, and 18 rigs are drilling true vertical wells. Karnes, DeWitt, La Salle, Gonzales, McMullen and Webb counties all have between 25 and 32 rigs running. See the full list of drilling by county below.

South Texas Oil & Gas News:

• Comstock - Ursa Resources Reach Eagle Ford Deal Worth $66.5 Million
• Deloitte Oil & Gas Conference Speakers Detail a Bright Energy Future
• Nat G CNG Opens San Antonio Facility

Be sure to visit our South Texas Oilfield Job Listings to search openings and come back weekly for updates or sign up for alerts - Daily or Weekly Email Alerts

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.