Halliburton Opens San Antonio Office & Operations Center - Will Service the Eagle Ford

September 19, 2013 R.T. Dukes

Halliburton Administrative Office - San Antonio

Halliburton has officially opened the company's $70 million San Antonio office in southern Bexar County.

The new operations center will serve the needs of the Eagle Ford and the surrounding area. The company's South Texas operations have grown in stride with the Eagle Ford.

Halliburton has hired 550 employees and expects to add another 450 oilfield related jobs by the end of the year. The facility was designed to support as many as 1,500 employees.

“Our new facility enables us to provide a wide range of services and support to our customers along the Eagle Ford corridor, as well as other South Texas fields.”

— Paul Sheppard, VP of Halliburton’s Southeast Area.

Halliburton Maintenance Facility San Antonio

The 400,000 square foot facility was built on 150 acres and currently supports five of the company's business lines:

Production enhancement
Boots & Coots
Cementing
Baroid
Wireline and Perforating.

The sixth business line, completion tools, will move to the facility in 2014.

Halliburton has operated in South Texas more than 80 years and now has offices in Alice, Victoria, and San Antonio.

The address for the new facility is:

4375 Loop 1604 East San Antonio, TX 78264

Read the full press release at halliburton.com

Other major oilfield service companies have offices in the area as well:

AMGAS Launches Full Service H2S Treatment Operations in Texas - Eagle Ford - Press Release

September 18, 2013 Kenny DuBose

AMGAS Service Inc (AMGAS), a full service H2S and noxious emissions treatment company, has commenced operations in Texas in response to increases in the levels of sour shale production. AMGAS’ innovations and expertise will help ensure producers are better able to safely haul and transport crude laden with H2S by truck and rail.

AMGAS will officially launch their services at the Developing Unconventionals DUG Eagle Ford Conference in San Antonio, Texas September 17-19, 2013 and representatives from the company will be on hand at booth 2085.

Texas has over 12,000 H2S gas wells and over 190,000 oil wells with H2S creating additional challenges during production, such as increased risks to workers safety and its impact on the environment. As an industry leader, AMGAS has the equipment and expertise to remove and treat H2S while crude is in motion. Their service helps control costs and positively impacts worker safety and the environment.

“H2S is dangerous and must be handled and treated properly throughout all stages of drilling and production,” said Sheldon McKee director Business & Product Development at AMGAS. “Our aim is to proactively treat all H2S instances in the field and during transport in order to give our client the very best solutions on the market.”

At the intersection of service, chemical and equipment, AMGAS offers full service H2S treatment with dependable innovations. AMGAS offers truck loading, fluid treatment and tank venting, which are all serviced by trained professionals.

“What sets us apart is that we remove H2S from the well all the way to market (transport) and that allows us to be multidimensional in our approach,” said McKee. “We aim to lock down emissions at the lease and remove and treat H2S from the well to the road. We want to push the industry forward and continue to work to raise the standards of H2S treatment and removal.”

About AMGAS

AMGAS is a corporation with offices across Western Canada, the US and in the Middle East and has been a leader in H2S treatment since the late 1980s. Safely handling H2S requires trained experts using dependable and innovative equipment, chemicals and processes. AMGAS developed specialized services fitting the specific needs of their different locations, operating at the intersection of chemicals, equipment and service. They take pride in working closely with their clients to ensure safety on site and provide expert assistance for all H2S treatments. For more information, please go to www.am-gas.com.

Company Contacts:

AMGAS Services Inc. Sheldon McKee Director of International Business Development [email protected] 403.507.5499

The article above was published through EagleFordShale.com’s press release distribution service. Learn more about Eagle Ford Advertising Here.

Natural Gas Emissions From Well Completions Lower Than Previously Estimated

September 17, 2013 R.T. Dukes

Natural gas emissions from well completions looks to be much less than previously thought by researchers and the EPA. As much as 50 times lower.

The University of Texas and the Environmental Defense Fund released a study that looked at methane emissions from onshore production sites. The study found emissions from well completions were 97% lower than national emissions estimates made by the EPA for 2011 and published in April.

“My take from the study is that hydraulic fracturing has an immaterial impact on methane emissions. ”

The group took onsite measurements of emissions from 190 well sites sampled throughout U.S. producing regions. The findings weren't all positive, but overall they were less alarming than previous studies.

The major findings include:

Production emissions estimates based on the data are 10% lower than EPA production emissions reported in 2011
Methane emissions from well completions are as much as 97% lower than emissions estimated by the EPA
Pneumatic devices and equipment leaks are 70% and 50% higher than current EPA emissions estimates, respectively
An estimated 0.42% of gross gas production is lost through emissions (much lower than previous estimates as high as 8%)

Combined with other recent studies, the overall leakage of methane into the atmosphere could be less than 1.5%. That's much lower than a Cornell study that suggested volumes as high as 8%.

Watch for the industry to react by making improvements that decrease emissions from pneumatic devices and equipment.

You can view a full summary presentation at engr.utexas.edu

Magellan Midstream Buys West Columbia Pipeline From Shell

September 16, 2013 R.T. Dukes

Magellan Midstream Partners has acquired a 15-mile, 16-inch Houston area pipeline from Shell. The pipeline is bi-directional, with capacity of 150,000 b/d.

The pipeline moves crude from Genoa Junction to/from a Magellan terminal in East Houston.

The company stated, "The West Columbia pipeline will provide an additional route for crude oil, particularly barrels from the Eagle Ford, to reach our East Houston terminal for storage or subsequent delivery into Shell’s reversed Ho-Ho system."

The 300,000 b/d Ho-Ho system allows for connection to refineries in Louisiana. Read more about Shell's reversed Ho-Ho system in the article - Shell Reversing Houma to Houston Pipeline

Neither Magellan Midstream nor Shell released the financial details of the transaction.

Eagle Ford Regional Drilling at 272 Rigs - Sept 13, 2013

September 13, 2013 R.T. Dukes

Marathon Oil Eagle Ford Acreage Map & Improving Well Performance

The Eagle Ford Shale rig countincreased by five rigs to 272 running this past week. I suspect high levels of activity and hundred dollar oil mean local events will be popular next week.

There are two big events coming up - DUG Eagle Ford in San Antonio and the South Texas Oilfield Expo in Corpus Christi. Contact Us here and let us know if you plan to attend. We'll stop by your booth to introduce ourselves. We've also written an article to help you maximize the value of your time spent at the events:

5 Tips for Making the Most Out of an Oil & Gas Conference & EXPO

The U.S. rig count increased 1 rig to 1,768 running this past week. A total of 401 rigs are targeting natural gas and 1,361 are targeting oil in the U.S. The remainder are drilling service wells (e.g. disposal wells, injection wells, etc.). This week marks the first time the natural gas rig count has been above 400 since March. 850 rigs are running in Texas.

Baker Hughes rig count is quoted here. Baker Hughes also releases its own Eagle Ford Rig Count that covers the 14 core counties (~234 rigs). The rig count published on EagleFordShale.com includes a 30 county area impacted by Eagle Ford development. A full list of the counties included can be found in the table near the bottom of this article.

Eagle Ford Oil & Gas Rigs

[ic-l]The natural gas rig count held flat at 43 rigs. Natural gas futures were trading around $3.70/mmbtu on Friday afternoon. That's up 5% over last week.

The oil rig count increased by five rigs to settle at 228 running in the region. WTI oil prices were trading near $108/bbl. Prices were down on news Syria might hand over chemical weapons, but held near highs. Oil prices have held above $100/bbl for ten weeks straight. Eagle Ford light crude traded at $105/bbl on Sept 12th.

A total of 224 rigs are drilling horizontal wells, 32 rigs are drilling directional wells, and 16 rigs are drilling true vertical wells. Karnes and McMullen counties lead development with 38 and 34 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 or sign up for alerts - Daily or Weekly Email Alerts

Eagle Ford Shale Drilling by County

Eagle Ford Operated Rig Count By Company

SmithBits no longer reports its operated rig count, but we'll have updated number for you from a new source soon. Until then, you can reference our numbers from mid-April. There has not been a significant change in the overall rig count since this date:

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.