The Eagle Ford Shale rig count decreased by 10 to 153 rigs running across our coverage by midday Friday.

In recent Eagle Ford news, mineral owners are finding they must be extra vigilant to make sure their interests are protected. A four year statute of limitations to correct royalty payment errors has many mineral owners scrambling to make sure they are being treated fairly.

Read more: Mineral Owners Race the Clock in Texas

The U.S. rig count fell another 56 to 1069 rigs running as of today. A total of 242 rigs were targeting natural gas (down 15 from the previous week) and 825 were targeting oil in the U.S. (41 less than the previous week). The remainder were drilling service wells (e.g. disposal wells, injection wells, etc.)465 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 near the bottom of this article.

Eagle Ford Oil & Gas Rigs

Natural gas rigs declined by one to 16 rigs by midday Friday. Natural gas prices increased $.06 from the previous week at $2.79/mmbtu on Friday afternoon.

The oil rig count declined by 15 to 137 rigs running by midday. WTI oil prices increased $.91 from the previous week, trading at $45.72/bbl on Friday afternoon and EF light ended up $1.00 at $42.25. A total of 145 rigs are drilling horizontal wells, two rigs are drilling directional wells, and vertical rigs were at six.  Karnes (26), LaSalle, DeWitt (21), and Webb (19) have the highest rig counts this week. See the full list below in the Eagle Ford Shale Drilling by County below.

Eagle Ford Shale Drilling by County

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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.

Read more at bakerhughes.com