Austin Exploration Burleson County Cotton Valley - Eagle Ford Well

Austin Exploration drilled a well through both the Cotton Valley Taylor Sands and the Eagle Ford Shale in Burleson County, TX. The company was encouraged by gas shows in the Cotton Valley and oil & gas shows in the Eagle Ford. The company plans to complete the well as soon as possible and might commingle production from both zones. Very few Eagle Ford wells are producing in Burleson County, so this could be the first of many. Austin Exploration has 5,000 acres in the area and will continue drilling if production rates prove commercial.

The county is better known for production from the Austin Chalk. With successful Eagle Ford wells in Louisiana and possibly one in Burleson County, it sure seems as if the Eagle Ford is only going to get bigger.

The well encountered gas shows in the Taylor sand formation between 6594 and 6615 feet.

The well has since been drilled to a total depth of 9325 feet and further hydrocarbon shows were encountered in the final stages of drilling, including in the primary Eagle Ford formation target between 8829 and 9102 feet.

Read more at upstreamonline.com

TexStar Pipeline Open Season Begins

TexStar Midstream began on open season for a 110 mile crude pipeline in South Texas on December 12, 2011. The 100,000 b/d pipeline will move crude and condensate from Gardendale to Oakville, near Valero's Three Rivers refinery. The company will then move volumes down to Corpus Christi through a NuStar pipeline. The project could be online as soon as mid-year 2012 and will be the first major pipeline and midstream expansion bringing oil to the coast. 

In Corpus Christi, the oil will be able to be loaded on an ocean-going barge which can carry between 100,000 to 150,000 barrels or small ship carrying 300,000 barrels and sent up along the coast to Houston's refinery row.

 

The expected terminus will eventually ending up further east along the Gulf Coast at the oil hub of St. James, Louisiana.

Monroe said that TexStar expects to get enough firm commitment for five years of transportation to make the project work as production from the Eagle Ford is expected to rise from about 200,000 bpd now to as much as a million bpd in 2016.

"There is incentive for shippers. We also expect to have walk-up shippers paying a walk-up tariff, which is a fairly common strategy," said Monroe.

Read more at reuters.com

Penn Virginia - Lower Production - Eagle Ford Delays

Penn Virginia Corporation lowered fourth quarter 2011 production guidance along with its Eagle Ford type curves.  Not much detail was given, but the release indicated there have been delays in completing wells and that the company has revised its expected well profiles.

Fourth quarter production guidance of 10.7 to 11.0 Bcfe, approximately 24 percent of which is expected to be crude oil and approximately 12 percent of which is expected to be natural gas liquids.

 

The revised fourth quarter production guidance represents a decrease of 1.5 to 1.7 Bcfe from previous guidance of 12.2 to 12.7 Bcfe, primarily due to the timing of Eagle Ford Shale completions and the use of a revised “type curve” profile for estimating production from Eagle Ford Shale wells.

We remain pleased with the results of our Eagle Ford Shale drilling program and remain confident in the reserve expectations and attractive economics for our Eagle Ford wells.

 

Rosetta Budgets $590 Million for South Texas - 2012

Rosetta Resources plans to spend over 90% of its 2012 budget in the South Texas Eagle Ford. Of the $640 million the company plans to spend, $590 million will be spent to run four rigs with a target of drilling 60+ wells. The company has committed to and will have pipeline capacity of 263 mmcfe/d by mid-year 2012. Those are impressive numbers Eagle Ford plans from Rosetta. Rosetta also announced it would complete its exploration program in the Alberta Basin Bakken of Montana, but has not further development plans at this time. That's not a real surprise. We haven't been high on the Alberta Bakken. It's simply too remote and costly to develop. The 300,000 plus acres the company holds in the area will become a nice option on oil prices. 

Rosetta's 2012 capital program includes a four-rig program in the Eagle Ford shale and the completion of 60 new wells, located both in the Gates Ranch area as well as new sections in the liquids window of the play. During 2011, Rosetta completed 45 wells in the Eagle Ford area. The Company's total exit rate for the year is expected to be approximately 195 million cubic feet equivalent per day ("MMcfe/d"). In January 2012, Eagle Ford firm gross wet gas capacity of 160 million cubic feet per day ("MMcf/d") will become available allowing Rosetta to move 216 MMcfe/d of net Eagle Ford volumes on a firm basis. By mid-year 2012, the Company's net Eagle Ford firm capacity will increase to 263 MMcfe/d.

 

Eagle Ford Drilling Up 2 Rigs - December 9, 2011

Active Rig
Active Rig

The Eagle Ford Shale drilling rig count increased by 2 rigs over the past week. While November was a record month, we expect to continue seeing records fall in 2012. Marathon Oil's Eagle Ford budget provides capital to increase to 17 rigs in 2012 from the 9 the company is running currently. That's just one company. There will be others adding rigs as well. Oil and gas operators are on track to drill more than 2,500 wells next year. Oil futures prices continue to show strength (WTI <$100/bbl) and natural gas futures prices (HH<$3.30/mmbtu) seem to be on a never ending path to $3...... The January contract has fallen more than $0.30 over the past week and the recent cold snap in the South hasn't put a dent in storage levels. The natural gas rig count fell 1 to a total of 96 rigs. Don't expect it to fall dramatically any time soon. Many of the gas weighted areas in the Eagle Ford also produce higher value condensate and NGLs.

A total of 2 oil rigs were added to reach a total of 162. Also, one service well is being drilled in Duval County.

Webb (37) still leads the region, while Karnes (36), La Salle (30), Dimmit (24), DeWitt (23), McMullen (22), and Gonzales (19) round out the top seven counties in the area. The most significant change was Petrohawk (BHP) who added back the 3 rigs it dropped the week before.

News highlighted throughout the play included:

Other news:

Stay tuned for updates on the South Texas drilling rig count.

Drilling 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.

Drilling Rigs by County