Eagle Ford Regional Rig Count 271 - New Oil Rig Count Record

July 19, 2013 R.T. Dukes

The Eagle Ford Shale drilling rig count grew by one to average 271 rigs over the past week. That equals the 2013 high from the first week in February.

Oil drilling levels hit a new record in the area with 241 rigs working. Expect activity to hold at this level and possibly go higher if oil prices stay above $100 per barrel.

The U.S. rig count is up 11 to 1,770, of which 845 are running in Texas. A total of 369 rigs are targeting natural gas and 1,395 are targeting oil in the U.S. The remainder are drilling service wells (e.g. disposal wells, injection wells, etc.).

We spent much of the week in Corpus Christi at the Texas Eagle Ford Oil & Gas EXPO. There will be another EXPO in April of 2014, so mark your calendars. We'll have more information for you soon.

The Dallas Fed noted difficulty in finding retail workers in the Eagle Ford region. There's a trickle down affect in a booming job market that makes almost all positions difficult to fill. You can read more from the Federal Reserve in the article Retail Workers Are Hard To Find In The Eagle Ford

*Note* Now quoting Baker Hughes. Baker Hughes also releases its own Eagle Ford Rig Count that covers the 14 core counties (~230 rigs). Our numbers cover a 30 county area impacted by Eagle Ford development. A full list of the counties included can be found in the table at the bottom of this article.

Eagle Ford Oil & Gas Rigs

[ic-l]The natural gas rig count in the region fell four rigs to 30 running. Natural gas futures were trading near $3.79/mmbtu on Friday afternoon. The commodity has held in the $3.60-3.80 range for a few weeks now.

Six more or 241 oil rigs are running in the region this week. That's a new Eagle Ford record and represents an increase of more than 200 oil rigs since the beginning of 2011. WTI prices have held well above $100 per barrel over the past two weeks. The oil benchmark was trading over $108/bbl on Friday. Eagle Ford light crude traded at $104.50/bbl on July 18th.

A total of 218 rigs are drilling horizontal wells and just 13 rigs are drilling true vertical wells. McMullen & Karnes counties lead development with 35 and 32 rigs running, respectively. See the full list of drilling by county below.

South Texas Oil & Gas News:

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

Eagle Ford Shale Drilling by County

agle Ford Operated Rig Count By Company

SmithBits no longer reports its operated rig count, but we'll have updated number for you from a new source soon. Until then, you can reference our numbers from mid-April. There has not been a significant change in the overall rig count since this date:

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 and/or Smith Service Co's (Schlumberger) Smith Rig Count.

Eagle Ford Regional Rig Count 270 on July 12, 2013

July 12, 2013 R.T. Dukes

The Eagle Ford Shale drilling rig count grew by three to average 270 rigs over the past week. That's the first time the region has seen 270 rigs since the first week in April and only the second time it has reached this high in 2013.

The U.S. rig count is up two to 1,759, of which 836 are running in Texas. A total of 362 rigs are targeting natural gas and 1,391 are targeting oil in the U.S. The remainder are drilling service wells (e.g. disposal wells, injection wells, etc.).

NASA shared a new photo of South Texas last week. The photo shows just how much activity there is in the region. Well pads make the area look like it is more populated than many towns. Read the full write up in the article Eagle Ford Shale From Space

*Note* Now quoting Baker Hughes. Baker Hughes also releases its own Eagle Ford Rig Count that covers the 14 core counties (~230 rigs). Our numbers cover a 30 county area impacted by Eagle Ford development. A full list of the counties included can be found in the table at the bottom of this article.

Eagle Ford Oil & Gas Rigs

[ic-l]The natural gas rig count in the region held flat at 34. Natural gas futures were trading near $3.65/mmbtu on Friday afternoon. There has been some movement, but natural gas has held relatively flat over the past two weeks.

One more or 235 oil rigs are running in the region this week. WTI prices have rallied on the back of unrest in Egypt and wider equity market appreciation. The oil benchmark was trading over $106/bbl on Friday. Eagle Ford light crude traded at $102.50/bbl on July 12th.

McMullen & Karnes counties lead development with 36 and 28 rigs running, respectively. See the full list of drilling by county below.

South Texas Oil & Gas News:

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

Eagle Ford Shale Drilling by County

Eagle Ford Operated Rig Count By Company

What is the Rig Count?

Eagle Ford Regional Rig Count 261 on June 28, 2013

June 28, 2013 R.T. Dukes

The Eagle Ford Shale drilling rig count fell by two rigs to 261 running over the past week. Every week there are rigs in transit to the next location or waiting to begin drilling. Those rigs are not counted in the census, so somewhere around 5-10 rigs are not included. A change of just two in one week really doesn't tell us much. We've floated just above 206 rigs for the entire year and we won't likely see any major changes unless oil prices breakout of the $90-100/bbl range.

The U.S. rig count fell 11 rigs to 1,748 rigs running, of which 832 are running in Texas. A total of 353 rigs are targeting natural gas and 1,390 are targeting oil in the U.S. The remainder are drilling service wells (e.g. disposal wells, injection wells, etc.).

We shared the new TX RRC Eagle Ford well map on the site this week. It's obvious natural gas prices have been better and significant processing has come online in the first half of 2013. The natural gas producing well count has increased by almost 50% from less than 1,000 wells to almost 1,500. Read more in the article Eagle Ford Shale Well Map - TX RRC May 2013

It's also of note that while natural gas prices were increasing, rigs were moving from oil prone to more gas prone areas of the play. For example, the rig count in Karnes County grew to a 2013 peak of 39 rigs in mid-May. That was up from 23 rigs in mid-February. That trend has reversed as natural gas prices have fallen over the past several weeks. Prices hit a peak of $4.40/mmbtu in April have been on a path to ~$3.50 since. The Karnes County rig count has followed and there are nine less rigs running (30) than we saw at the peak.

*Note* Now quoting Baker Hughes. Baker Hughes also releases its own Eagle Ford Rig Count that covers the 14 core counties (~230 rigs). Our numbers cover a 30 county area impacted by Eagle Ford development. A full list of the counties included can be found in the table at the bottom of this article.

Eagle Ford Oil & Gas Rigs

[ic-l]The natural gas rig count in the region gave three rigs back to fall to a total of 30 running. Natural gas futures fell $0.20 on the week to close near $3.59/mmbtu on Friday afternoon. That's a significant drop from the high of $4.40/mmbtu we saw in April.

One more or 230 oil rigs are running in the region this week. WTI futures rebounded with the broader equity markets during the week and ended near $97/bbl on Friday. Eagle Ford light crude traded at $93.50/bbl on June 27th.

McMullen & Karnes counties lead development with 31 and 30 rigs running, respectively. See the full list of drilling by county below.

South Texas Oil & Gas News:

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

Eagle Ford Shale Drilling by County

agle Ford Operated Rig Count By Company

What is the Rig Count?

Eagle Ford Shale Regional Rig Count 263 On June 21, 2013

June 21, 2013 R.T. Dukes

The Eagle Ford Shale drilling rig count grew by two rigs to 263 over the last week. Again, that is right in line with the average of 263 rigs we've seen work throughout the first six months of the year. A steady rig count is the result of relatively predictable results and operators getting closer to holding all of their acreage. We're approaching a normal operating level of development.

The U.S. rig count fell twelve rigs to 1,759 rigs running, of which 843 are running in Texas. A total of 349 rigs are targeting natural gas and 1,405 are targeting oil in the U.S.. The remainder are drilling service wells (e.g. disposal wells, injection wells, etc.).

We shared our list of Eagle Ford Billionaires this week. The top three Eagle Ford earners include:

Jeff Hildebrand – Net worth $5.5 billion – Estimated to have made $2.5 billion in the Eagle Ford
Dan Harrison – Net worth $1.1 billion – Estimated to have made $1 billion leasing his ranch in the Eagle Ford
Rod Lewis – Net worth $2.6 billion – Lewis Energy operates over $5 billion worth of Eagle Ford acreage

*Note* Now quoting Baker Hughes. Baker Hughes also releases its own Eagle Ford Rig Count that covers the 14 core counties (~230 rigs). Our numbers cover a 30 county area impacted by Eagle Ford development. A full list of the counties included can be found in the table at the bottom of this article.

Eagle Ford Oil & Gas Rigs

[ic-l]The natural gas rig count in the region added three rigs back to reach a total of 33 running. Natural gas traded up $0.10-.20 on the week, but is closing near $3.79/mmbtu on Friday afternoon.

One less or 229 oil rigs are running in the region this week. WTI fell considerably with the broader market and was trading near $94/bbl on Friday (down from $98 last week). Eagle Ford light crude traded at $90.25/bbl on June 21st.

Karnes and McMullen counties lead development with 32 running each. See the full list of drilling by county below.

South Texas Oil & Gas News:

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

What is the Rig Count?

Eagle Ford Shale Regional Rig Count 261 June 14, 2013

June 14, 2013 R.T. Dukes

The Eagle Ford Shale drilling rig count fell five rigs to 261 running over the last week. That is two below the average of 263 rigs we've seen work throughout the first six months of the year.

The U.S. rig count is up six to 1,771 rigs running, of which 846 are running in Texas. A total of 353 rigs are targeting natural gas and 1,413 are targeting oil. The remainder are drilling service wells (e.g. disposal wells, injection wells, etc.).

The biggest news of the week in the South Texas oil patch was Halcon announcing the company plans to spend more developing its Brazos County Eagle Ford acreage. The company had planned to have three rigs running in the area, but already has five. Current indications point to the company spending two to three times more than the $100 million that was initially planned. You can read more in the article Halcon Allocating More Capital To Its Brazos County Eagle Ford Development

*Note* Now quoting Baker Hughes. Baker Hughes also releases its own Eagle Ford Rig Count that covers the 14 core counties (~230 rigs). Our numbers cover a 30 county area impacted by Eagle Ford development. A full list of the counties included can be found in the table at the bottom of this article.

Eagle Ford Oil & Gas Rigs

[ic-l]The natural gas rig count in the region fell three to a total of 30 running to end the week. Natural gas prices dropped further on the week and were trading near $3.75/mmbtu on Friday afternoon.

Two fewer rigs were drilling for oil and a total of 230 oil rigs are running in the region. WTI futures increased again this week and were trading near $98/bbl on Friday. Eagle Ford light crude traded at $93.25/bbl on June 13th.

Karnes and McMullen counties lead development with 36 and 32 rigs running, respectively. See the full list of drilling by county below.

South Texas Oil & Gas News:

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