Marathon Oil's Eagle Ford production averaged more than 90,000 boe/d at the end of October and is on pace to eclipse more than 100,000 boe/d by year-end 2013. Another important note is that more than 70% of oil production is now being transported by pipelines.
The company's production in the third quarter was roughly double that of the same period in 2012 at more than 81,000 boe/d. Production growth since the second quarter wasn't quite as impressive (up 1,200 boe/d or 3%), but the numbers were tempered by drilling to hold acreage in areas where the company has a lower working interest. A little less than 2/3rds of Marathon's production is considered oil and condensate, with the remainder split between NGLs and natural gas.
Marathon's average spud-to-total depth time averaged 12 days in the third quarter. That's 20% better than the more than 15 days the company spent in the third quarter of 2012. The company has also decreased its drilling and completion costs by more than 20% in the past year. One reason costs are down is 97% of wells in Q3 were drilled from pads. The average number of wells drilled per pad is up as well to 3.3 from 3.1 in the second quarter.
Marathon hit total depth on 70 gross wells and brought 71 gross wells to production during the third quarter. 85% of wells this year have been drilled on 60-acre spacing or less.
Read the full earnings press release at marathonoil.com