The Eagle Ford Shale drilling rig count decreased by three to 264 rigs running. That is one more rig than the average so far this year.

We spent time out at Bentek Energy's Benposium Conference this week and there were a lot of great Eagle Ford takeaways. One of those was a comparison of the company's Eagle Ford oil production forecast from two years ago to today. In short, the play is producing just as much today as the company had forecast for 2016 and is now projected to surpass 1.4 million barrels per day in 2016.

Read our highlights in the article Eagle Ford Oil Production Growing Twice As Fast - Bentek

*Note* Now quoting Baker Hughes. Baker Hughes also releases its own Eagle Ford Rig Count that covers the 14 core counties (~230 rigs). Our numbers cover a 30 county area impacted by Eagle Ford development. A full list of the counties included can be found in the table at the bottom of this article.

Eagle Ford Oil & Gas Rigs

[ic-l]A total of 37 rigs are targeting natural gas. Six began drilling this week.

Natural gas prices were up a little to more than $4 again at $4.06/mmbtu on Friday afternoon. It has been a mild May, so having a $4 price and not a $2 price is a nice gift for natural gas producers.

A total of 227 oil rigs are running in the region. WTI futures were almost unchanged from the past two weeks at $96/bbl on Friday afternoon. Eagle Ford light crude traded at $91.50/bbl on May 16th.

Karnes and La Salle counties lead development with 39 and 34 rigs running, respectively. See the full list of drilling by county at the bottom of the page.

South Texas Oil & Gas News:

• Swift Energy's Eagle Ford Wells Continue To Improve - Looking For Partner
• Eagle Ford Is Making Winners Out Of Many
• Eagle Ford Oil Production Growing Twice As Fast As Thought
• Newfield Moving To Pad Drilling - Driving Costs Down
• Women's Energy Network Starts South Texas Chapter - Press Release

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

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.