The Eagle Ford Shale drilling rig count fell 10 rigs over the past week to 255 active units. The biggest declines were Karnes County, dropping 6 rigs, and Webb County, dropping 4 rigs. The natural gas rig count held flat on the week, while we lost 10 oil rigs. While considered commonly considered oil rigs, both Karnes and Webb county are parts of the Eagle Ford where wells produce a considerable amount of gas.
Oil prices held around $100/bbl through most of the week. Natural gas prices rebounded off ten-year lows to ~$2.77/mmbtu, with the market belief that other producers would follow Chesapeake’s lead in shutting in production and moving rigs out of gas plays. Horizontal wells account for activity from 238 rigs drilling and we have 0 injection or service wells being drilled.
Karnes County kept its lead in drilling with 37 rigs. Webb (36), La Salle (34), DeWitt (28), McMullen (22), Gonzales (20), and Dimmit (18) lead the pack and are the only counties with double digit rig counts.
News in the Eagle Ford included:
- Water Supply is Sufficient in South Texas
- ConocoPhillips Plans to Double Eagle Ford Production in 2012
- Kinder Morgan Eagle Ford Infrastructure Update
- Fire in Pearsall Last Week
- Eagle Ford Oil Production to Eclipse 400,000 b/d in 2015
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Drilling Rig Count by Operator
| Operator Name | Prior Week | Current Week |
| Chesapeake | 31 | 30 |
| EOG Resources | 27 | 27 |
| Petrohawk (BHP) | 17 | 17 |
| ConocoPhillips | 14 | 16 |
| Lewis Petroleum | 13 | 13 |
| Marathon Oil (Hilcorp) | 12 | 12 |
| Pioneer Natural | 12 | 11 |
| Anadarko | 10 | 10 |
| Talisman | 10 | 9 |
| Plains E&P | 8 | 8 |
| All Others | 111 | 102 |
| Total | 265 | 255 |
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 SmithBits 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.
Drilling Rigs by County
| Texas County | Prior Week | Current Week | Texas County | Prior Week | Current Week | |
| KARNES | 43 | 37 | WILSON | 3 | 3 | |
| WEBB | 40 | 36 | LAVACA | 2 | 2 | |
| LA SALLE | 33 | 34 | LEE | 1 | 2 | |
| DEWITT | 26 | 28 | MAVERICK | 2 | 2 | |
| MCMULLEN | 24 | 22 | MILAM | 1 | 2 | |
| GONZALES | 21 | 20 | BEE | 2 | 1 | |
| DIMMIT | 19 | 18 | BURLESON | 1 | 1 | |
| FRIO | 10 | 8 | FAYETTE | 1 | 1 | |
| LIVE OAK | 5 | 7 | GRIMES | 1 | 1 | |
| ATASCOSA | 6 | 6 | Washington | 1 | 1 | |
| LEON | 8 | 6 | AUSTIN | 0 | 0 | |
| ROBERTSON | 5 | 6 | BASTROP | 0 | 0 | |
| MADISON | 4 | 4 | COLORADO | 0 | 0 | |
| ZAVALA | 4 | 4 | DUVAL | 0 | 0 | |
| BRAZOS | 2 | 3 | GOLIAD | 0 | 0 |
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