Weatherford San Antonio Office Planned

Weatherford International's San Antonio office will be located in southeast Bexar County at the northwest quadrant of Loop 1604 and Interstate 37. This is likely the first of many announcements to come as the Eagle Ford Shale play booms in surrounding counties. San Antonio is the only metro area in South Texas that affords the amenities that many people will want when moving to South Texas.  Weatherford's office will also include a yard for hydraulic fracturing equipment and other oilfield service tools. Corporate offices mean more Eagle Ford Shale Jobs in San Antonio.

Switzerland-based Weatherford International said in June that it will build a facility on the northwest quadrant of Loop 1604 and I-37, according to a company official. The structure will include offices and bays to house and service the company's hydraulic fracturing equipment, a company spokeswoman said.

Read the full news release at chron.com

SM Energy - Talisman and Statoil Reach Eagle Ford Acreage Deal

SM Energy sells 15,400 acres in LaSalle and Dimmit counties for $225 million ($14,600 per acre) to a partnership of Talisman and Statoil. SM Energy has been courting offers over the past several months and it looks like it wasn't able to get a satisfactory JV agreement across all of its acreage. Expect another announcement across a larger portion of the company's acreage in the coming weeks.

"The position is a detached block of acreage that is comprised of the entirety of the Company's operated acreage in LaSalle County, Texas, as well as an immaterial portion of adjacent operated acreage in Dimmit County, Texas. In total, approximately 15,400 net acres are being sold for cash proceeds of approximately $225 million. Due to limited infrastructure, there is currently no production associated with three wells that have been drilled on the acreage. As of year-end 2010, there was an immaterial amount of proved reserves booked for this acreage. The buyers will be entitled to approximately 12% of the takeaway capacity associated with SM Energy's agreement with Eagle Ford Gathering LLC, a joint venture between Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P. and Copano Energy, L.L.C."

Read the full press release at sm-energy.com

Eagle Ford Shale Rig Count - June 10, 2011

drilling rig

The Eagle Ford Shale rig count rose from 202 active drilling rigs to 207 this week. The gas rig count remained at 103 rigs drilling, while the oil rig count increased from 97 rigs to 102. One rig is drilling an injection well.  Horizontal rigs account for 188 of the 207rigs drilling in the South Texas region. Drilling activity should continue to climb over the coming months as operators commit more rigs to the play. Stay tuned each week for an update on the South Texas rig count.  Better yet, Subscribe by RSS.

Drilling Rig Count by County

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 rig count referred to in this article is for ALL drilling reported by SmithBits and not solely wells targeting the Eagle Ford Shale.

All land rig count 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 Jobs Growth Across the Region

Jobs are being created across the play and even adjacent counties are benefiting from the boom.

Victoria already has seen 124 new Pioneer Natural Resources jobs spring up in areas such as pumping services, maintenance and support, and that number should grow to 205 positions by the year's end.

Pawnee, Cuero and Yoakum have seen 117 new jobs with Pioneer open since drilling began, he said.

Hall quoted a study by the University of Texas at San Antonio that showed Eagle Ford Shale production tripled between 2009 and 2010. He went on to say that, by 2020, the drilling will have created 68,000 full-time jobs, ringing in at about $3.2 billion in salaries.

"This is definitely a needle-mover in South Texas," he said.

Read the full article at victoriaadvocate.com

Carrizo Adds Eagle Ford Acreage in La Salle County

Carrizo Oil & Gas adds to its Eagle Ford acreage with a $21 million acquisition of 13,000 net acres for $1,650 per acre.

Carrizo has recently entered into firm agreements to acquire over 13,000 net acres of Eagle Ford Shale mineral interests, bringing its total net Eagle Ford land position to approximately 33,000 acres. These newly acquired acres are located in the condensate trend in La Salle County, Texas. The up-front cash cost associated with these acquisitions is approximately $1,650 per acre. The remainder of the lease acquisition costs will be in the form of a drilling carry that will fund certain of our partners' share of development costs, where applicable, in the acreage and will be dependent on the timing and density of development drilling on the properties

In order to further accelerate our Eagle Ford Shale activity, our remaining Barnett Shale rig (H&P 332) has been relocated to South Texas and is now on location drilling the Ivey Ranch 10H in Dimmit County. Current plans call for this rig to remain in the Eagle Ford until it is replaced by a new purpose-built rig currently scheduled for arrival in December 2011, at which time the H&P #332 rig will return to its drilling schedule in the Barnett. Given the current backlog of wells waiting on completion in the Barnett Shale, the Company believes this rig move should have no impact on estimated 2011 Barnett production.

Read the full press release at CRZO.net