Eagle Ford Drilling Rig Count at 253 - Jan 4, 2013

January 4, 2013 R.T. Dukes

Forest Oil Eagle Ford Core Acreage Map — Forest Oil Eagle Ford Acreage Map

Eagle Ford Shale regional drilling held flat at 253 rigs running through New Year 2013. Dimmit and DeWitt counties were the biggest movers. The two counties lost 4 and 3 rigs, respectively.

Be sure you catch the Most Read Eagle Ford Stories of 2012 article that was published earlier in the week. Company announcements grabbed headlines on the largest scale, but jobs and more general topics like "How Long Will the Eagle Ford Last?" also made the list.

In regular news, Forest Oil will sell its South Texas holdings to Hilcorp for $325 million. The deal is for natural gas properties outside of the Eagle Ford. Expect Forest to use the proceeds to pay down debt and focus in on development in the Texas Panhandle and Eagle Ford.

Eagle Ford Oil & Gas Rigs

The natural gas rig count was 47 this week as gas prices fell further. Natural gas prices had traded down almost twenty cents to $3.29 on January 4th.

The oil rig count grew two rigs to reach 204 running in the area. WTI crude futures were trading near $93 per barrel to end the week. Eagle Ford crude priced at $105.78/bbl on the 3rd of January. Eagle Ford light crude and condensate in the area traded at $89.25 and $88.25, respectively.

There are 241 horizontal rigs running in the region. One storage well is being drilled in Zavala County and one disposal well is being drilled in Frio County.

La Salle County leads development with 32 rigs running. Karnes with 29 rigs, McMullen (29), Webb (24), Dimmit (22), Gonzales (21), DeWitt (18), Live Oak (14), Atascosa (10), Fayette (8), Lavaca (8), Frio (6), and Leon (6) round out the top counties in the region. [ic-c] South Texas Oil & Gas News:

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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 Regional Rig Count at 253 - December 28, 2012

December 28, 2012 R.T. Dukes

Eagle Ford Shale regional drilling dropped three rigs to settle at 253 running the week of Christmas. The biggest move of the week was in Karnes County where three rigs were dropped and there are now 27 rigs running. This marks the first time fewer than 30 rigs have been running in the county since July of 2011.

If you didn't get a chance, be sure you see the new Eagle Ford Well Map and watch a new video of Eagle Ford Well Activity Start to Finish - sent in by Marathon. Also in the news, Valero received approval to export crude oil to Canada. Valero expects to save $2 per barrel by utilizing South Texas oil vs oil from across the Atlantic at its refinery in Quebec City, Canada. Read more in the article Eagle Ford Crude to Canada?

Eagle Ford Oil & Gas Rigs

The natural gas rig count added three rigs to rise to 49 running this past week. Natural Gas prices were up two cents from this time last week to $3.47/mmbtu.

The oil rig count fell to 202 running in the area. WTI crude futures were trading near $91 per bbl on Friday afternoon. Eagle Ford crude priced at $102.25/bbl on the 27th of December. Eagle Ford light crude and condensate in the area traded at $87.25 and $86.25, respectively.

There are 240 horizontal rigs running in the region. One disposal well was being drilled in Frio County and one storage well was being drilled in Zavala County.

La Salle County leads development with 33 rigs running. Karnes with 27 rigs, McMullen (27), Dimmit (26), Gonzales (22), Webb (22), DeWitt (21), Live Oak (13), Fayette (8), Lavaca (8), Atascosa (7), Wilson (7), Frio (6), and Leon (6) round out the top counties in the region. [ic-c]

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

Eagle Ford Rig Count by Operator

What is the Rig Count?

Eagle Ford Shale Drilling by County

Typical Eagle Ford Well Start to Finish Video - Marathon Oil

December 26, 2012 R.T. Dukes

This is a great time lapse video of a typical Eagle Ford well captured from start to finish by Marathon Oil. The video was shot over a period of a few months.

Thank you to Lee Warren from Marathon who forwarded the video our way.

TX RRC Eagle Ford Well Map - Dec 2012

December 24, 2012 R.T. Dukes

The Texas Railroad Commission's Eagle Ford Shale well map was updated with the most recent data through December 11, 2012.

Since November 12th, the commission has issued 40 permits. That's much slower than the almost 5 permits per day during the previous four months, but a slow down is expected this time of year.

A total of 3,318 wells had been reported producing as of December 11. Over 200 wells were brought online in the past month. That's 176 more oil wells and 35 more gas wells than we had in November. Interestingly, that's a pace of more than 7 wells coming online per day.

Data from the RRC is always a little delayed, so the numbers reflected might not be 100% accurate. The RRC is at the mercy of companies reporting data in a timely fashion. I suspect we're closer to 4,000 wells producing by the end of the month.

Eagle Ford Rig Count at 256 Dec 21, 2012

December 21, 2012 R.T. Dukes

Eagle Ford Shale regional drilling increased 8 rigs to 256 running the week before Christmas. La Salle and Dimmit counties were the big movers during the week. La Salle lost four rigs and Dimmit gained four rigs.

The story of the week was from a Wood Mackenzie press release discussing future development in the play. Eagle Ford Capital Spending makes the play the world's largest oil & gas development! Almost one-third of all upstream dollars spent in the US in 2013 will be allocated to developing the Eagle Ford. In less than four years, more than $100 billion will be spent developing the play.

Callan McMahon of Wood Mackenzie notes “Some of these numbers can be difficult to put into perspective, but $28 billion (2013) would put one at roughly the median country annual GDP.”

Eagle Ford Oil & Gas Rigs

The natural gas rig count held flat at 46 as gas traded up to ~$3.45 on Friday. Colder weather forecasts are helping prices, but it's going to take a cold snap across the country to get prices back up near $4. In a follow up from last week, ethane rejection is estimated to have added 400-500 mmcfd of gas to the system in the past few weeks.

The oil rig count grew by 8 rigs to reach 208 running in the area. WTI crude futures traded above $90 per bbl, but had fallen to $89 per barrel on Friday afternoon. Eagle Ford crude priced at $100/bbl on the 21st of December. Eagle Ford light crude and condensate in the area traded at $85 and $84, respectively.

There are 247 horizontal rigs running in the region and one storage well is being drilled in Zavala County.

La Salle County leads development with 35 rigs running. Karnes with 30 rigs, McMullen (27), Dimmit (26), Webb (22), Gonzales (22), DeWitt (19), Live Oak (12), Fayette (8), Lavaca (8), Atascosa (7), Frio (7), Madison (7), and Wilson (7) round out the top counties in the region. [ic-c] South Texas Oil & Gas News:

Devorah Fox, of Mike Byrnes & Associates, penned an article discussing the need for Good CDL Drivers in South Texas. If you have drivers or are a driver in South Texas, it is a great read.

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