Eagle Ford Shale Rig Count Increases by Two to 266

August 4, 2014 Kirk Eggleston

Eagle Ford Shale Well Map

The Eagle Ford Shale rig count increased by two to 266 rigs running across our coverage area by the end of last week.

In recent news, Calgary-based Baytex Energy, a recent entrant into the Eagle Ford, announced in late June of 2014 that it’s selling its Bakken Shale assets in North Dakota to pay down a portion of its Eagle Ford debt.

In February, the company added 22,200 net contiguous acres in South Texas through its $2.8 billion acquisition of Aurora Oil & Gas, which closed in June of 2014.

The U.S. rig count increased by six to 1,889 rigs running by the end of last week. A total of 313 rigs were targeting natural gas (five less than the previous week) and 1,573 were targeting oil in the U.S. (11 more than the previous week). The remainder were drilling service wells (e.g. disposal wells, injection wells, etc.). 904or ~48% of rigs active in the U.S. were 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 (204 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 one to eight rigs running by the end of last week. Average rig counts for natural gas production in 2012 were around 80 and then dropped to around 40 in 2013. Natural gas prices were flat from the previous week to $3.80/mmbtu on Friday afternoon.

The oil rig count increased by three to 258 rigs running by the end of last week. WTI oil prices decreased by ~$4 from the previous week, trading at $97.60/bbl on Friday afternoon. Eagle Ford light crude traded at $94.50/bbl on July 24th.

A total of 242 rigs are drilling horizontal wells, 10 rigs are drilling directional wells, and 14 rigs are drilling vertical wells. Karnes, La Salle, and De Witt each have at minimum 30 rigs running. Karnes County has the highest rig count this week at 33. See the full list below in the Eagle Ford Shale Drilling by County below

South Texas Oil & Gas News:

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Eagle Ford Shale Drilling by County

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.