Eagle Ford Rig Count at 273 - BHP Overtakes Chesapeake as Most Active Driller

September 14, 2012 R.T. Dukes

The Eagle Ford Shale drilling rig count grew to 273 to end the week. BHP Billiton held for the second week in a row as the most active operator in South Texas. Chesapeake had held the top spot for more than a year and half, but has plans to lower its operated rig count to 25 by year-end and average 22 rigs running in 2013. The company has increased drilling efficiencies significantly over the past year. More wells per rig means fewer rigs are needed overall. The company's capital budget is also constrained by low natural gas prices. In the past month alone, the company has sold almost $7 billion in assets to bridge its funding gap. Some of those assets were in the Eagle Ford. You can read more in our article Chesapeake's Eagle Ford Midstream Assets Sold.

Eagle Ford Oil & Gas Rigs - New Oil Rig Count Record 217

The number of natural gas rigs fell to 53 this week. We've hovered in the 50-55 range for almost a month now and now there are no counties with more than 10 natural gas rigs running. Most leases are held by production and operators are going back to judging prospects based on economics. That will continue to be reflected in the natural gas rig count. There are a record 217 oil rigs working the region. That surpasses the old record of 215 set just two weeks ago.

One water well is being drilled in Bastrop County and two disposal wells are being drilled - one in Karnes County and one in Leon County.

Henry Hub futures were trading at ~$2.95 on Friday afternoon. That's an almost $0.30 jump from last week. Spot prices also increased to $2.94 from ten cents less in the prior week.

WTI was trading at ~$99/bbl Friday afternoon. This is the first week in a month we've ended the week higher than $96/bbl. Eagle Ford crude priced at almost $108/bbl on September 14th and light crude and condensate in the area traded at $95.50 and $94.50, respectively.

There are 252 horizontal rigs running in the region. The four counties leading development are Karnes with 38 rigs, Dimmit (32), La Salle with 32 and McMullen with 28. Webb (22), DeWitt (21), Gonzales (19), Atascosa (16), Frio (12), and Live Oak (11) round out the top Eagle Ford counties.

News items this week included:

Be sure to visit our South Texas Oilfield Job Listings to search openings and come back weekly for updates or sign up for alerts.

Eagle Ford Rig Count by Operator

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.

Eagle Ford Shale Drilling by County

Eagle Ford Rig Count at 265 Sept 7, 2012

September 7, 2012 R.T. Dukes

The Eagle Ford Shale drilling rig count settled at 265 to end the week. Several rigs were reclassified to take the oil rig count down to 207 from the record 215 last week. The labor day holiday made the week short for most and the only major news was that Pioneer Natural Resources plans to sell its Barnett Shale assets to focus its efforts. The company will now "reallocate capital to higher-return, core assets in the Permian Basin and the Eagle Ford Shale". The capital raised will be used to pay down the company's credit facility. The data room opens in October and a deal is expected to close in the first quarter of next year.

Eagle Ford Oil & Gas Rigs

The number of natural gas rigs increased by 3 to 55 this week. The slight recovery is a bounce off the low of 52 last week. Rigs continue to shift from natural gas to oil targets in Webb County, but DeWitt County saw a jump of 3 rigs that offset the decline in Webb. There are 207 oil rigs working the region. That's eight off the record set last week, but still near prior records. One injection well is being drilled in Karnes County. Two disposal wells are being drilled - one in Karnes County and one in Leon County.

Henry Hub futures were trading at ~$2.68 on Friday afternoon. Spot prices on the other hand moved almost the same amount, but in a positive direction to $2.85.

WTI was trading at ~$96/bbl Friday afternoon. This is the fourth week in a row we've ended trading around that level. Eagle Ford crude priced at $104/bbl on September 6th and light crude and condensate traded at $92 and $91, respectively.

There are 249 horizontal rigs running in the region. The three counties leading development are Karnes with 43 rigs, La Salle with 33 and McMullen with 30. Dimmit (27), DeWitt (21), Webb (21), Gonzales (20), Atascosa (10), Frio (11), and Live Oak (10) round out the top Eagle Ford counties.

News items this week included:

Be sure to visit our South Texas Oilfield Job Listings to search openings and come back weekly for updates or sign up for alerts.

Eagle Ford Rig Count by Operator

What is the Rig Count?

Eagle Ford Shale Drilling by County

Eagle Ford Shale Regional Rig Count at 270 - August 31, 2012

August 31, 2012 R.T. Dukes

The Eagle Ford Shale drilling rig count grew to 270 as operators added six rigs during the week. In the biggest shift of the week, the oil rig count grew by 14 to 215 active rigs. That's more than 300% growth in the oil rig count since the beginning of 2011. Don't expect that dynamic to change any time soon. Oil prices have come under some pressure, but $96 oil is much more attractive than sub-$3 natural gas.

Eagle Ford Oil & Gas Rigs

The number of natural gas rigs running fell to 52 this week. That's a decline of 13 in the past two weeks alone. Webb County fell out of double digits and Karnes County is the now the only county with more than ten natural gas rigs running. Almost the entire shift in Webb County was due to SM Energy's rigs being reclassified from gas to oil. There are now 215 oil rigs working the region, which surpasses the record of 210 hit twice earlier in the year. One injection well is being drilled in Karnes County. Two disposal wells are being drilled - one in Karnes County and one in Leon County.

Henry Hub futures were trading at ~$2.80 on Friday afternoon. Spot prices and future prices flipped positions from last week as spot prices now trail futures prices at $2.73.

WTI was trading at ~$96/bbl Friday afternoon. We had another week where prices varied quite a bit during the week, but settled flat before the weekend. Eagle Ford crude priced at $102/bbl on August 31st and light crude and condensate traded at $93 and $92, respectively.

There are 252 horizontal rigs running in the region. The three counties leading development are Karnes with 43 rigs, La Salle with 34 and McMullen with 31. Dimmit (30), Webb (23), Gonzales (20), DeWitt (19), Frio (10), and Live Oak (11) round out the top Eagle Ford counties.

News items this week included:

Be sure to visit our South Texas Oilfield Job Listings to search openings and come back weekly for updates or sign up for alerts.

Drilling Rig Count by Operator

What is the Rig Count?

Drilling Rigs by County

Eagle Ford Shale Regional Rig Count at 264 - August 24, 2012

August 24, 2012 R.T. Dukes

The Eagle Ford Shale drilling rig count settled at 264 for the week ending August 24th. In the biggest news of the week, Flint Hills Resources announced a $250 million upgrade of its 230,000 b/d West Refinery in Corpus Christi. The refinery currently handles a little more than 100,000 b/d of Eagle Ford crude and the addition of processing facilities will allow the company to accept even more South Texas oil. As many as 1,000 jobs will be required during peak construction. Flint Hills has spent more than $1 billion in the past decade expanding and upgrading the plant and this is the second $200 million dollar expansion in the past five years. Watch a video covering the story in our article Flint Hill Resources Plans $250 Million Refinery Expansion.

Eagle Ford Oil & Gas Rigs

The number of natural gas rigs running fell back to 60, after jumping to 65 last week. McMullen County (9) fell to single digits, while Karnes (12) and Webb (12) held as the only counties with more than 10 gas rigs running. There are 201 oil rigs working, which is up one week over week. One injection well is being drilled in Karnes County and two disposal wells are being drilled. One in Karnes County and one in Leon County.

Henry Hub futures were trading at ~$2.70 on Friday afternoon. That's just a few cents off last week's price. Spot prices held roughly flat as well at $2.79/mmbtu.

WTI was trading at ~$96/bbl Friday afternoon and LLS crude prices stretched above $114/bbl. Oil traded above $98/bbl this week, but gave up gains in the past two days.

There are 245 horizontal rigs running in the region. The three counties leading development are Karnes with 41 rigs, La Salle with 31 and McMullen with 31. Dimmit (29), DeWitt (22), Webb (21), Gonzales (16), Frio (11), Live Oak (10), and Atascosa (8) round out the top Eagle Ford counties.

News items this week included:

Be sure to visit our South Texas Oilfield Job Listings to search openings and come back weekly for updates or sign up for alerts.

Drilling Rig Count by Operator

What is the Rig Count?

Drilling Rigs by County

Eagle Ford Shale Regional Rig Count at 268 August 17, 2012

August 17, 2012 R.T. Dukes

The Eagle Ford Shale drilling rig count fell three rigs to 268 this past week. KNES 5 in San Antonio stirred the pot this week when the organization reported that oil companies are threatening counties with lawsuits if they go forward with access and impact fees. You can watch the news report in the article Eagle Ford Oil Companies Fight Back - The State Should Share Revenues. The Texas Oil & Gas Association responded quickly to the report stating the organization had made no threats to sue any county in South Texas in regard to transportation fees. You can read the full response in the story TXOGA Responds to KENS 5 Story Regarding Lawsuit Threats.

As roads deteriorate, we'll see both oil companies and local constituents lobbying the state legislature to share oil and gas revenues more liberally with areas of development. Reference the map above to see how rig activity is disbursed across the region.

Eagle Ford Oil & Gas Rigs

The number of natural gas rigs running jumped up to 65 this week from 59 last week. McMullen County (10) rejoined the ranks of Karnes (13) and Webb (12) counties this week to be only areas with 10 or more gas rigs running. There are 200 oil rigs working, which 10 off the record we touched last week. As you can tell, most of those rigs simply shifted from oil to gas. We also have one disposal well being drilled in Leon County, TX.

Henry Hub futures were trading at ~$2.73 on Friday afternoon. That's roughly flat over last week, but down 10% over the past month. In contrast to the past few weeks, spot prices are now more in line with futures prices at $2.78/mmbtu.

WTI was trading at ~$96/bbl Friday afternoon and LLS crude prices are just above $112/bbl. We're now running on several weeks of gains in the oil market. Watch to see if prices surpass $100 per barrel and stay there.

There are 250 horizontal rigs running in the region. The three counties leading development are Karnes with 36 rigs, La Salle with 32 and McMullen with 30. Dimmit (27), DeWitt (22), Webb (21), Gonzales (17), Frio (12), Atascosa (11), and Live Oak (10) round out the top Eagle Ford counties.

News items this week included:

Thank you to Devorah Fox of Mike Byrnes & Assc. who contributed an article highlighting the Top Ten Characteristics of a Great Truck Driver.

Be sure to visit our Eagle Ford Shale Job Listings to search openings and come back weekly for updates or sign up for alerts.