Eagle Ford Rig Count Continues to Fall

April 24, 2015 Elizabeth Alford

The Eagle Ford Shale rig count fell by seven this week ending at 129 rigs running across our coverage by midday Thursday.

In recent Eagle Ford news, the Texas legislature last week to move forward with House Bill 40, which strips local authorities of power to regulate oil and gas in their own cities.

The U.S. rig count fell again this week by another 22 ending at 932 rigs running by midday Friday. A total of 225 rigs were targeting natural gas (and increase of eight from the previous week) and 703 were targeting oil in the U.S. (31 less than the previous week). The remainder were drilling service wells (e.g. disposal wells, injection wells, etc.)393 of the rigs active in the U.S. were running in Texas.

Baker Hughes reports its own Eagle Ford Rig Count that covers the 14 core counties. 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

By Midday Friday, natural gas rigs increased by one, totalling 18 rigs. Natural gas prices decreased $.10 from the previous week landing at at $2.5363/mmbtu by week’s end. .

The oil rig count fell to 111 rigs this week. WTI oil prices increased $1.60 from the previous week, trading at $57.34/bbl on Friday afternoon.. A total of 123 rigs are drilling horizontal wells, zero rigs are drilling directional wells, and vertical rigs increased to seven. Karnes (19), Webb (19), LaSalle (17) and DeWitt (16), have the highest rig counts this week. See the full list below in the Eagle Ford Shale Drilling by County below.

Eagle Ford Shale Drilling by County

Eagle Ford Shale News

Eagle Ford Production Up Slightly in March

Texas Earthquakes Linked to Fracking

Eagle Ford Consortium 2015

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.

Eagle Ford Production Up Slightly in March

April 23, 2015 Elizabeth Alford

alt="Eagle Ford at One Billion Barrels" — Eagle Ford Produced 1.6 Million bpd in March

Oil production in the Eagle Ford increased 28 percent from the same month last year, averaging 1.6 million barrel a day in March.

Relates: Eagle Ford Production Expected to Decline

These findings are from Platt’s Bentek Energy, who also reported that there an increase in production of 17,000 barrels per day for the combined shale formations in North Dakota and Texas in March versus February. This slight increase of 1% may signal a slowdown in the record production that has led to an oil surplus. Platt's daily price assessment shows the value of oil out of the Eagle Ford is up 25% since mid-March due to an average price for the year is $53.30 barrels per day.

“Producers the Eagle Ford are still maintaining their production levels by high-grading their acreage and pushing for better efficiencies. The current average economic return for the two basins is 17%. However, the downside risk is that some producers may elect to increase their number of drilled-but-uncompleted wells in the near term—until they figure out their cash flow status—which will further flatten or bring down production levels.”

— Sami Yahya, Bentek Energy Analyst

Learn more about Oil and Gas Production Basics in Non-Technical Language

Texas Earthquakes Linked to Fracking

April 22, 2015 Elizabeth Alford

A new study published Tuesday in the scientific journal, Nature Communications, confirms that oil and gas activities are likely to blame for a series of earthquakes in Azle and Reno Texas.

After a year-long investigation, researchers at SMU present findings that contradict the Texas Railroad Commission who have continued to deny the link between oil and gas operations and seismic activity.

Before 2008, Texas earthquakes were rare and both Azle and Reno experienced none. Since then, analysts have recorded over 150 significant quakes in North Texas including two magnitude 3.6 tremors in November and December of 2013.

“Regional geologic interpretations and historical accounts of regional seismicity independently suggest that natural tectonic stress changes represent an unlikely cause of the Azle earthquakes. The analysis therefore indicates subsurface stress changes associated with brine production and wastewater injection represents the most probable cause of recent earthquakes in the Azle area.”

Related: Texas Quakes Alarm Residents

Azle and Reno have not expereinced any more quakes since 2013, but other Texas locales aren't so lucky. A series of quakes rattled residents in the north Texas community of Irving in January ranging in intensity from a 2.6-3.7 on the richter scale.

Read full report at nature.com

Eagle Ford Consortium 2015

April 21, 2015 Elizabeth Alford

The fourth annual Eagle Ford Consortium, scheduled for May 27-29 in San Antonio, will address issues that affect Eagle Ford Shale counties.

New on the conference agenda is a pre-conference program on Mexican energy reform. Speakers will look at how border counties will be impacted by the new Mexican energy reform laws and how small and medium businesses can tap into the opportunities and be connected to the reforms.

Keynote speakers for the conference will include Texas Railroad Commission Chair Christi Craddick and Texas Workforce Commission Chairman Andres Alcantari. Topics include:

An Optimistic View of the Economy
State of the Workforce in the Eagle Ford Shale
Regional Coordination of Emergency Responses Resources
Roads & Road Safety
Environmental
Workforce & Education
Applying Current Technology in the Oil & Gas Industry
Economic Development & Creative Financing

Eagle Ford Consortium Chairman Leodoro Martinez told the San Antonio Business Journal that once shale oil opens up for foreign investment later this year, midstream companies in Texas will have lucrative business opportunities to build up Mexico's infrastructure.

“What it does for our shale area, is that it opens up a lot of activity for our border communities such as Eagle Pass, Del Rio and Laredo.”

The Eagle Ford Consortium addresses issues that are the result of the economic impact of the oil and gas exploration that is taking place within the Eagle Ford Shale. For more information about membership or to register for the conference, go to eaglefordconsortium.org

"Denton Fracking Bill" Sails Through House

April 20, 2015 Elizabeth Alford

The Texas legislature voted Friday to move forward with House Bill 40, which strips local authorities of power to regulate oil and gas in their own cities.

In a 122-18 vote, the the Texas House of Representatives gave its overwhelming approval to preempt city laws concerning oil and gas activity, including hydraulic fracking. The Denton Fracking Bill allows the state to eliminate local rules that are not deemed “commercially reasonable.”

After only three hours of debate, the house was able to shoot down all of the proposed amendments that attempted to add additional local control for public safety and setbacks.

“Balanced, fair and essential to ensure that the state’s biggest job creator can continue to operate responsibly under robust and predictable regulation.”

— The Texas Oil and Gas Association

ut there are many dissenters including Rep. Sylvester Turner, D-Houston, who called the bill “a goldmine for lawyers.”

“This is a dangerous power grab by Big Oil to stomp out the rights of communities to protect themselves from the worst impacts of dirty drilling,”, said in a statement. “They won’t settle for just overturning the Denton ban but are taking aim at ordinances across the state that limit drilling near homes, schools and parks as well as many other health and safety standards.”

— Luke Metzger, Director of Environment Texas

The bill still has to make its way through the Texas Senate before it goes before the Governor and becomes law.