Halcon Allocating More Capital To Its Brazos County Eagle Ford Development

Halcon Eagle Ford Activity Map
Halcon Eagle Ford Activity Map

Halcon announced plans to spend $100 million targeting the Eagle Ford in Brazos County in 2013 just two months ago. Now, the company might spend double or triple that number.

The company didn't say how much more capital would be allocated to the play, but said "capital is being reallocated to El Halcon from the Woodbine..."

When plans were to spend $100 million in the play, Halcon stated it would operate 1-3 rigs throughout the year. It's just June and the company already has 5 rigs working the play. The company had planned to spend ~$390 million in the Woodbine, so if we assume half of the capital is reallocated to the Eagle Ford, it is very likely Halcon will spend between $200-300 million this year alone.

Eagle Ford Laterals Getting Longer

The two most recent wells drilled in the area have average laterals of 8,349 ft and came online at more than 1,100 boe/d (94% oil) each. Those rates were achieved with a 16/64 choke and represent improvement of 18% over recent wells.

The Bison 1H well in Brazos County was drilled from spud to total depth in less than 11 days, including a 9,000+ ft lateral.

Halcon is also utilizing pad drilling where possible and set casing on three wells in just nine days.

Halcon has 9 wells producing in the area, 5 wells awaiting completion and 5 wells being drilled.

Highlights from the operations update weren't limited to the Eagle Ford, Halcon also announced a Bakken well that produced more than 3,000 boe/d. Read the full operations update at halconresources.com

Eagle Ford Regional Rig Count 266 June 7, 2013

Kinder Morgan Crude & Condensate Expansion into Karnes County
Kinder Morgan Crude & Condensate Expansion into Karnes County

The Eagle Ford Shale drilling rig count increased by two to 266 rigs running this past week. We've only seen this many rigs active in the area twice since February.

The U.S. rig count is down six to 1,765 rigs running. A total of 354 rigs are targeting natural gas and 1,406 are targeting oil. The remainder are drilling service wells (e.g. disposal wells, injection wells, etc.).

News this week was dominated by Kinder Morgan. Three separate stories involved the pipeline and midstream giant. First, the company announced plans to start a $107 million expansion of its Eagle Ford Crude & Condensate Pipeline system. The expansion will add 30+ miles of pipe from DeWitt into Karnes County.

In addition, the Kinder Morgan operated Double Eagle Pipeline is now moving condensate and a natural gas header that connects to the companies Houston Central processing plant is complete:

*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 went unchanged and a total of 33 rigs are targeting natural gas. Natural gas dropped on the week and was trading near $3.83/mmbtu on Friday afternoon.

Three more rigs began drilling for oil and a total of 232 oil rigs are running in the region. WTI futures reversed course and were trading above $96/bbl on Friday. Eagle Ford light crude traded at $91.25/bbl on June 6th.

Karnes and La Salle 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.

Eagle Ford Shale Drilling 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 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.

Aurora Spuds Its First Operated Eagle Ford Well

Aurora Oil and Gas Operated Eagle Ford Acreage
Aurora Oil and Gas Operated Eagle Ford Acreage

In March of 2013, Aurora acquired operated acreage in the Eagle Ford and on May 31st the company spud its first operated well in the play.

A Nabors rig is being used on the company's Heard Ranch to drill the JP Heard Bower #19H. A total of three wells will be drilled from the surface pad.

A vertical pilot whole will be drilled first to log the Eagle Ford. The log will be used in determining placement of future horizontal wellbores.

“Initial development will include two horizontal wells spaced 330 ft apart (40-acre spacing). A zipper frac that completes alternating sections of the two wells will be used. ”

Aurora has an interest in 79,700 gross (21,800 net) acres in or near the Sugarkane field in the Eagle Ford. Aurora operates approximately 2,700 net acres at its Heard Ranch and Axel Tree prospects. Marathon Oil operates the majority of the company's non-operated acres.

A total of 14-19 operated wells and 30-32 non-operated wells will be drilled in 2013.

 

Natural Gas Header Complete - Eagle Ford Gas Ready To Flow

Tres Palacios Pipeline Header and Storage
Tres Palacios Pipeline Header and Storage

Inergy, LP has completed a 20-mile, 24-inch pipeline header extension that will allow natural gas to flow from Kinder Morgan's Houston Central gas processing plant in Colorado County to the Tres Palacios storage hub in Matagorda County.

The Tres Palacios Header crosses ten interstate & intrastate pipelines and connects the Tres Palacios storage hub to the Houston Central processing plant.

  • Tres Palacios gas storage facility is located in Matagorda County, TX, and includes 38.4 bcf/d of working gas storage capacity
  • Houston Central plant has capacity to process 700 mmcfd of gas and fractionation capacity of 22,000 b/d. The plant is being expanded to process an additional 400-800 mmcfd of rich gas from the Eagle Ford. The facility was formerly known as the Copano Houston Central Plant
“Beyond providing Eagle Ford Shale producers with significant new market options, we believe our new Houston Central interconnection will increase liquidity at the Tres Palacios hub point for marketers to access supply.”
— Bruce Page, VP

This is one of several midstream developments that will enhance the value of natural gas and NGLs being produced in the Eagle Ford.

 

Double Eagle Pipeline Moving Eagle Ford Condensate to Corpus Christi

Double Eagle Pipeline - Eagle Ford Condensate System
Double Eagle Pipeline - Eagle Ford Condensate System

Double Eagle Pipeline, LLC, a joint venture between Kinder Morgan and Magellan Midstream, has started moving condensate to Corpus Christi.

The pipeline is part of a project that was started by Copano and Magellan, but is operated by Kinder Morgan who purchased Copano earlier in 2013.

Condensate is moving from a truck unloading facility in Three Rivers to Magellan's Corpus Christi Terminal. From the Corpus Terminal, condensate can reach local petrochemical plants, as well as water borne export options.

This leg is just a portion of what is a $150 million project that includes 140 miles of 12-inch pipelines. The system connects with other Kinder Morgan pipelines in the area as well.

The next leg of the pipeline from Gardendale (near Cotulla) to Three Rivers is expected to be online in the third quarter of 2013. Initial capacity is planned at 100,000 b/d, but the system can be expanded to handle 150,000 b/d.

The pipeline was supported by long-term commitments from Talisman and Statoil.