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Eagle Ford Shale Overview

The Eagle Ford Shale (EFS) is located in South Texas and the formation produces from various depths between 4,000 and 14,000 feet. The EFS takes its name from the town of Eagle Ford Texas where the shale outcrops at the surface in clay form.  (Often, the Eagle Ford is mistakenly spelled as Eagleford.)  The Eagle Ford is a booming shale play, results indicate there will be development activity for a long time to come. Visit the Eagle Ford Shale Drilling and Rig Count page to keep up oil & gas activity across South Texas. The EFS also benefits from high liquids yields across much of the play.  Higher oil prices have helped spur development as oil, condensate, and NGLs (ethane, propane, and butane) all command better prices than natural gas.

To learn more about mineral rights, visit MineralWeb.com To discuss mineral rights topics with EFS land owners, visit the MineralRightsForum.com.

Eagle Ford Shale Geology

The Eagle Ford is a geological formation directly beneath the Austin Chalk Shale. It is considered to be the “source rock”, or the original source of hydrocarbons that are contained in the Austin Chalk above it. The formation was also penetrated many times as operators targeted the Edwards Limestone formation along the Edwards Reef Trend.

The formation is best know for producing variable amounts of dry gas, wet gas, NGLs, condensate and oil. The most active area lies above the Edwards Reef Trend where the formation yields a gas-condensate production stream.

Unlike many other shale plays, it does not exhibit natural fracturing within the formation. Visit the Eagle Ford Shale Geology page to read more.

Eagle Ford Shale Location

The Eagle Ford Shale Counties page provides a list and detail on the 30 counties where the EFS is actively targeted. The core counties include an area that stretches from north of Gonzales down to Webb County at the Texas-Mexican border.

EFS wells have been tested in Mexico, but results have not been widely reported.

Eagle Ford Shale Companies

Petrohawk Energy is given credit for drilling the first EFS wells in 2008, when the company began testing several areas across South Texas. The discovery horizontal well was completed with 10 frac stages along a 3,200 ft lateral. The well produced more than 7.6 mmcfd. Lewis Energy also claims part of the prize of leading the way. The company reports to have drilled the first EFS targeted well in 2002. Find more information on other companies through our Eagle Ford Shale Operators page.

You can also view midstream companies at the Eagle Ford Pipeline & Midstream page.