Record Numbers Attend Robstown Job Fair

 

The industry is pushing forward full force and Eagle Ford jobs are coming with them. Job News hosted the largest career fair in the company's history yesterday in Robstown, TX (near Corpus Christi). As many as 3,000 attendees made the trek to apply for the more than 2,000 jobs that were on display from 29 companies. For those that count, the population of Robstown is only a little over 12,000. The population grew by 25% for the day! Wow! If you want to attend the next event, we'll be tracking South Texas career fairs at our Eagle Ford job fairs page.

I caught up with Kevin Robbins from Job News USA this morning to hear more about the show:

"This was our second job fair in the area and the largest job fair in our company's history. We'll be planning another job fair in the coming months (likely in the first quarter of 2012)

A great thing about yesterday's job fair was there were more people along with better female attendance. Likely, double the number of women that came to the Beeville career fair.

Many of the vendors shared that it was the best job fair they had been a part of."

They began to lose count, but Kevin said best estimates were "2,800 to 3,000 attendees".

Companies are just begining to hit their stride in developing the Eagle Ford and you can bet there will be ample job opportunity for many years to come. I'm sure the jobs that were landed yesterday were a welcomed Christmas gift.

Did you attend the Robstown Job Fair? We'd love to hear more about your experience.

Marathon's 2012 Budget is Eagle Ford Directed

Marathon Oil's budget for 2012 is Eagle Ford heavy. The company plans to spend $4.8 billion dollars next year, with more than $1.5 billion directed to the Eagle Ford Shale. This comes less than a year after the company acquired Hilcorp and KKR assets for $3.5 billion. The company has spent more than $4.5 billion buying Eagle Ford properties in 2011 alone, so its no surprise that Marathon is putting its money where its mouth is in 2012. Marathon's cash resources allow the company to spend heavily and subsequently bring production forward in earlier years. More production equals more value.

The company plans to ramp up from 10 rigs now to 17 rigs in 2012. With rigs that have the capability to drill more than one well per month, that equates to more than 200 Marathon operated wells in 2012.

Approximately $3.0 billion of the capital budget is allocated to E&P growth projects, with plans to drill approximately 250 - 300 net wells (500 - 530 gross) in 2012. Of that, $2.7 billion is concentrated on four key North America liquids-rich resource plays: the Eagle Ford shale in south Texas, North Dakota's Bakken shale, the Anadarko Woodford shale in Oklahoma and the emerging Niobrara shale formation within the DJ Basin of southeast Wyoming and northern Colorado. The Company's substantial plans for the Eagle Ford include ramping up to 17 rigs, drilling 155 - 170 net wells (200 - 210 gross, all company operated) and adding two additional hydraulic fracturing crews, bringing the total to four by mid-year 2012. Marathon plans to drill 55 - 70 net wells (165 - 175 gross, 65 - 75 Company operated) in the Bakken; 25 - 35 net wells (75 - 80 gross, 40 - 45 Company operated) in the Anadarko Woodford; and 15 - 25 net wells (60 - 65 gross, 30 - 35 Company operated) are projected for the Niobrara.

Read the entire press release at marathonoil.com

Comstock Resources Eagle Ford Well Update and Budget

Comstock Resources announced the acquisition of Delaware Basin properties in West Texas along with updated Eagle Ford well results.  All five wells were drilled in McMullen County, TX and came online at an average of 809 barrels of oil per day and o.96 mmcf/d. That's initial production rates of 969 boe/d. Comstock also announced its capital budget for 2012. The company will spend $545 million on drilling and completion activities. Over $220 million will be spent drilling new wells and completing Eagle Ford wells that were drilled in 2011. The newly acquired Delaware Basin properties and the Eagle Ford will be the beneficiaries of almost $400 million of the capital budget for 2012. That's a big shift to liquids-rich production from what was historically a gas weighted company.

Since the Company's last report, Comstock has completed five additional successful wells, all of which were drilled on the Company's Hill lease located in McMullen County, Texas. The wells were drilled to vertical depths ranging from 11,022 feet to 11,204 feet and had laterals ranging from 5,004 feet to 7,456 feet. Initial production rates for the five Hill wells were as follows: 651 barrels of oil per day and 0.9 million cubic feet ("MMcf") of natural gas per day or 801 Boepd for the Hill #2H; 801 barrels of oil per day and 1.1 MMcf of natural gas per day or 985 Boepd for the Hill #3H; 715 barrels of oil per day and 1.0 MMcf of natural gas per day or 890 Boepd for the Hill #4H; 926 barrels of oil per day and 1.2 MMcf of natural gas per day or 1,120 Boepd for the Hill "A" #1H and 954 barrels of oil per day and 0.6 MMcf of natural gas per day or 1,048 Boepd for the Hill "A" #2H. All of the reported well results were obtained while following Comstock's restricted choke program where the well's flow is limited with a 16/64 inch choke to minimize pressure draw down from the reservoir.

Comstock also announced a revised 2012 capital budget to include drilling operations on its newly acquired properties in West Texas. Comstock plans to spend approximately $545.0 million in 2012 for drilling and completion activities............Comstock Resources has budgeted to spend $207.3 million in its South Texas region to drill 32 (28.9 net) Eagle Ford shale horizontal wells in 2012 and $14.5 million to complete six wells (5.6 net) drilled in 2011.

Read more at comstockresources.com

Oil's Thirst for Water is Making Headlines

Eagle Ford water use made the front page of the Wall St. Journal. At the center of the debate is the use of water in hydraulic fracturing (fracking). While the worry is over contamination in other parts of the country, we're in the midst of a record drought in South Texas that has many ranchers and farmers concerned. The biggest challenge for oil and gas development in South Texas might become sourcing sufficient volumes of water and not the public perception of risk. The story notes a single well uses 6 million gallons of water, but usage is down to as little at 3.5 million gallons per well for companies like ConocoPhillips. As companies have moved into liquids rich plays, more water is required in completions. An Eagle Ford well needs almost twice the amount of water used per well in the Barnett Shale of North Texas.

I'm paraphrasing, but a water rights lawyer in Texas made a good point in saying the oil and gas industry has been encouraged to produce as much as possible while state water use rules moved more conservative. Those two oppose each other and have set us up for conflict.

A couple of good stats from the story:

  • Carrizo Springs' population has doubled in the past two years
  • Dimmit County 2011 tax receipts will be more than the past 5 years combined
  • UTSA says the oil industry will support 68,000 Eagle Ford jobs by 2020
  • 964 public water systems restricted water use in some capacity in 2011

Read the entire article at wsj.com