The Eagle Ford Shale rig count stayed flat at 267 rigs running over the past week.

In recent news, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) data released in March 2014, shows each drilling rig in the Eagle Ford Shale will contribute 400 b/d more than it would have in the same formation in January 2007. Total April 2014 oil production in the Ealge Ford is expected to be 1,359,000 b/d. Total natural gas production in the Eagle Ford is expected to be 6,566 mcf/d.

Read more: Eagle Ford Leads the Pack in Oil Production Per Well - EIA

The U.S. rig count decreased by 17 to 1809 rigs running over the past week. A total of 344 rigs are targeting natural gas (1 less than last week) and 1,461 are targeting oil in the U.S. (18 more than last week). The remainder are drilling service wells (e.g. disposal wells, injection wells, etc.). 868or ~48% 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 (224 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 decreased by 5 rigs to 267 running this past week. Average rig counts for natural gas production in 2012 were around 82 and then dropped to around 41 in 2013. Over the past week, natural gas decreased to $4.38/mmbtu on Friday afternoon.

The oil rig count increased by 5 to 229 rigs running. WTI oil prices decreased, trading at ~$99/bbl by the end of the week. Eagle Ford light crude traded at $94.75/bbl on March 13th.

A total of 234 rigs are drilling horizontal wells, 20 rigs are drilling directional wells, and 13 rigs are drilling true vertical wells. Karnes, La Salle, Dimmit, McMullen and Webb counties each have at minimum 24 rigs running. Karnes County has the highest rig count this week at 35. See the full list below in the Eagle Ford Shale Drilling by County:

South Texas Oil & Gas News:

• Matador Resources Oil Production Up 76% Company-Wide Due to Eagle Ford
• Eagle Ford Leads the Pack in Oil Production Per Well - EIA
• Clayton Williams Grew Eagle Ford Oil Production 430% in Fourth-Quarter of 2013

Be sure to visit our South Texas Oilfield Job Listings to search openings and come back weekly for updates.

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.