The Eagle Ford Shale rig count increased by 1 to 267 rigs running last week.

In recent news, Devon Energy plans on investing $1.1 billion in the Eagle Ford in 2014 and will drill more than 200 wells. The company estimates average net production through October, 2014, of 70,000 – 80,000 boe/d in the play.

Read more: Devon Energy Eagle Ford Spending $1.1 Billion in 2014

The U.S. rig count increased by 23 to 1,792 running last week. A total of 345 rigs are targeting natural gas (10 more than last week) and 1,443 are targeting oil in the U.S. (13 more than last week). The remainder are drilling service wells (e.g. disposal wells, injection wells, etc.). 864or ~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 (222 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 increased by seven rigs to 43 running last week. Average rig counts for natural gas production in 2012 were around 82 and then dropped to around 41 in 2013. Last week, the price of natural gas stayed flat at ~$4.60/mmbtu on Friday afternoon.

The oil rig count decreased by 6 to 224 rigs running. WTI oil prices stayed relatively flat, trading at ~$100/bbl by the end of the week. Eagle Ford light crude traded at $99.00/bbl on March 7th.

A total of 235 rigs are drilling horizontal wells, 19 rigs are drilling directional wells, and 13 rigs are drilling true vertical wells. Karnes, La Salle, Dimmit and McMullen counties each have at minimum 26 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:

• Eagle Ford Billionaires | Jeff Hildebrand Leads the Pack - Net Worth of $5.5 Billion
• Devon Energy Eagle Ford Spending $1.1 Billion in 2014
• Halcón Resources Will Spend 40% of its 2014 Budget in the Eagle Ford - ~$380 Million
• Penn Virginia Grows Eagle Ford Position to 80,000 Net Acres in 2013
• Exterran Acquires Eagle Ford Gas Compression Assets from Chesapeake in $360 Million Deal

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

Eagle Ford Shale Drilling by Count

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.