Comstock Moving Haynesville Rigs to the Eagle Ford and West Texas

Comstock Resources' Eagle Ford production grew more than 120% in the fourth quarter to 3,300 boe/d. The Eagle Ford accounted for 7% of the company's total production at year-end 2011 and there's no sign of growth letting up. The company plans to have all of its rigs moved out of the Haynesville Shale and into South and West Texas by March. Low gas prices are pushing the company to make a shift to oil and liquids. The Wolfbone in West Texas and Eagle Ford is South Texas are the primary development targets in 2012. Comstock grew liquids production from just 4% of total production at the beginning of 2011 to 16% of production by the end of the year.

Read more at the Comstock Eagle Ford page.

Shell's Production Growth Focused in North America

Shell's Eagle Ford Shale assets will undoubtedly be a major part of the company's guidance to grow production by 25% by 2017-2018. 80% of Shell's capital budget will be spent on upstream development and 60% of that will be spent in North America and Australia. The company's largest North American development areas are in the Pinedale Field of Wyoming, Eagle Ford Shale of South Texas, and the Marcellus Shale of the Northeast U.S.

Voser commented: “We have worked hard to generate a strong pipeline of investment opportunities for Shell, and we put the emphasis firmly on a competitive financial performance. Shell’s investment programmes create cashflow growth, which in turn funds our dividends. All of this is supported by efficiency gains from our continuous improvement programmes, where the opportunity set runs to billions of dollars for Shell.”

 

  • Net capital investment will be some $30 billion in 2012, with over ~80% Upstream, of which 60% will be in North America and Australia. We continue to mature further development opportunities, with Final Investment Decision on 17 new projects in 2010-11. In 2011, the company has built new positions including Iraq gas, Asia Pacific LNG, liquids-rich shales, and new exploration acreage in 10 countries. This portfolio growth supports our increased investment program and updated growth outlook.

Read the entire press release at shell.com

Eagle Ford Rig Count Stays Flat - La Salle County Leads - Feb 3, 2012

Drillingl rig
Drillingl Rig 5

The Eagle Ford Shale drilling rig count remained flat this week, but we experienced a lot of movement between counties. La Salle County jumped 5 rigs to surpass Karnes and Webb counties, who have combined to hold the lead in terms of rig activity for the past year. Webb County lost 3 rigs, but no other counties gained or lost more than 1 rig. The natural gas rig count held flat (83) on the week, while we lost 1 oil rig (171). Natural gas prices fell back to ~$2.50/mmbtu and it looks like growing production across the U.S. is going to stand in the way of higher prices for the foreseeable future.  March WTI oil prices were down a little on the week at $97 per bbl. Horizontal wells account for activity from 238 rigs drilling and we have 1 disposal well being drilling in Leon County (not a core Eagle Ford area).

La Salle County took the lead in drilling with 39 rigs. Karnes (38),Webb (33), DeWitt (28), McMullen (23),Gonzales (19), and Dimmit (19) lead the pack and are the only counties with more than 7 rigs active.

News in the Eagle Ford included:

Come back weekly 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

Pioneer Reports Year-End Eagle Ford Shale Reserves of 70 mmboe

Pioneer Natural Resource's Eagle Ford Shale reserves grew to 70 million barrels at the end of 2011. Pioneer's core assets cut through the condensate rich window of the Eagle Ford in DeWitt, Karnes, and Live Oak counties. For the entire company, Pioneer added 149 mmboe of proved reserves, which replaced 313% of the company's 49 mmboe of production in 2011. Management attributed the strong performance to the Sprayberry field (West Texas), the Barnett Combo (North of Fort Worth), and the South Texas Eagle Ford. 

The Eagle Ford accounts for less than 10% of Pioneer's proved reserves, but that will change dramatically in the next few years as the company is able to prove reserves from land not yet drilled.

Marathon Oil to Double Eagle Ford Production in 2012

Marathon Oil further supplemented its acreage position in the fourth quarter of 2011 and reaffirmed its guidance of 30,000 boe/d for 2012. The company is currently producing just 15,000 boe/d, but infrastructure constraints are holding production back. Marathon should easily hit its target as additional Eagle Ford pipeline and midstream gathering is brought online in conjunction with more drilling rigs. The company plans to have 18 rigs working by the third quarter of the year.  If you question whether they will be able to double production, just take a closer look at their fourth quarter numbers. Marathon only averaged a little over 9,000 boe/d, but the company exited the year with more than 15,000 boe/d.

Read more at Marathon's Eagle Ford page.