The Eagle Ford Shale rig count lost ground this week with our data showing a drop to 97 rigs running across our coverage area by midday Friday.

In recent Eagle Ford news, the EIA reports that crude oil production across South Texas and the U.S. is at its highest level in over a year.

Read more: Crude Production Rises in Eagle Ford and Across U.S.

A total of 927 oil and gas rigs were running across the United States this week, an increase of 11 over last week. 185 rigs targeted natural gas (three more than the previous week) and 741 were targeting oil in the U.S. (eight more than the previous week). The remainder were drilling service wells (e.g. disposal wells, injection wells, etc.) 460 of the rigs active in the U.S. were running in Texas.

Baker Hughes reports its own Eagle Ford Rig Count that covers the 14 core counties. 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 below.

Eagle Ford Oil & Gas Rigs

Eight rigs in the Eagle Ford region targeted natural gas this week with the commodity trading at $3.04/mmbtu.

89 Eagle Ford rigs were targeting oil with WTI oil prices at $45.83

A total of 94 rigs are drilling horizontal wells, zero are drilling directional wells and three are vertical.

Karnes County leads this week with 20 rigs in production. See the full list below in the Eagle Ford Shale Drilling by County below.

Eagle Ford Shale Drilling by County

Eagle Ford Shale News

Crude Production Rises in Eagle Ford and Across U.S.

Lonestar Increases Eagle Ford Holdings in 'Transformational' Deal

Eagle Ford Oil Production Back on Top

Eagle Ford Shale Gaining Strength through 2017

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.

The Eagle Ford Shale drilling rig count has had its ups and downs, marking the rise of the region's shale development and the decline brought on by low crude prices.