Eagle Ford Shale and Mexico: An Important Partnership

Mexico Eagle Ford Shale Map
Mexico Eagle Ford Shale Map

There are billions of gallons of shale oil waiting to be fracked in Mexico and for the first time in generations, the Mexican government is opening up its oil and gas fields to foreign investors.

Related: Eagle Ford Shale Gas Headed to Mexico

Mexico passed historic energy reforms last year in hopes of boosting lagging production and have set the stage for greater collaboration between businesses that operate in the Eagle Ford Shale and Mexico.

At last week’s Eagle Ford Consortium held in San Antonio, speakers talked about ways that businesses on both sides of the border might tap into the opportunities that are connected to the new energy reform laws.

Mexico is interesting to energy companies operating in Texas - and around the globe - because it has something for everyone - deep water, shallow water, onshore conventional and unconventional shale fields.
— Carlos Garcia, Lewis Energy Group

It is estimated that there are billions of barrels of potential resources in what is often called, ‘Mexico’s Eagle Ford Shale’. This hidden volume will require hydraulic fracturing to get it out of the ground and Mexico will look to partner with Texas businesses to get the job done.

There has already been some movement to create the important infrastructure:

  • In April, Mexico’s state power company(CFE)  announced it had initiated an aggressive construction campaign that includes $3.3 billion to be spent on 12 natural gas and electricity projects.
  • Petróleos Mexicanos acquired funding to complete the construction of the pipeline Los Ramones II for an estimated $900 million.

Related: More Pipelines Cross Texas-Mexico Border

Eagle Ford Shale Drives Carrizo's Q1

Chesapeake Released 2015 Q1
Carrizo Oil 2015 Q1

Carrizo Oil announced its first quarter earnings and reveal a production growth driven by activity in the Eagle Ford

Related: Carrizo Acquires Eagle Ford Working Interest

Eagle Ford Highlights

Carrizo’s first quarter activity in the Eagle Ford includes 23 gross operated wells waiting on completion. These wells equate to potential crude oil production of more than 7,500 barrels per day. For the same period, the company drilled 14 gross (12.2 net) operated wells during the first quarter, and completed 16 gross (14.5 net) wells. Crude oil production from the play was approximately 18,700 Bbls/d for the quarter.

We remain focused on cost savings in the current environment, and continue to make good progress on this front. Currently, we have achieved drilling cost reductions of more than 10% and completion cost reductions of nearly 25% from late 2014 levels, putting us ahead of the forecast we provided in January.
— S.P. "Chip" Johnson, IV, Carrizo's President and CEO

Q1 Highlights:

  • Oil Production of 21,373 Bbls/d, 42% above the first quarter of 2014
  • Total Production of 34,595 Boe/d, 30% above the first quarter of 2014
  • Loss From Continuing Operations of $21.5 million, or ($0.46) per diluted share, and Adjusted Net Income of $6.4 million, or $0.14 per diluted share
  • Adjusted EBITDA of $101.8 million
  • Raising 2015 crude oil production growth target to 18%

Carrizo currently has 81,000 net acres with mineral leases and leasing activities located primarily in La Salle County with smaller positions in Atascosa, Frio, and McMullen Counties.

Read more at carrizo.com

Repsol Moves into the Eagle Ford

Rosetta-Noble Merger
Repsol Acquires Talisman

Repsol completed its acquisition of Talisman Energy last month and became one of the largest companies in the energy sector worldwide.

Related: Talisman Energy Cuts Jobs

The deal brings Repsol into the Eagle Ford and allows them to gain 59,000 net acres of south Texas land. It is still unclear how this merger will affect those Eagle Ford shale operations. In a conference call on May 10th, Repsol said that Talisman’s assets had been consolidated into its upstream division, but they were not ready to reveal further details about their plans.

The announcement comes days after Talisman released strong first quarter results.

Talisman delivered solid operational and financial results in the first quarter of 2015 against a backdrop of significantly lower commodity prices and our strategic decision to cut capital investment,’ said Hal Kvisle, President and CEO. ‘Production from ongoing operations averaged 360,000 boe/d in the quarter, up slightly from the first quarter of 2014, and cash flow(1) was $605 million for the quarter, supported in large part by hedging settlements.

First Quarter Highlights:

  • Production averaged 360,000 boe/d in the first quarter of 2015, up 2% from the first quarter of 2014.
  • Cash flow was $605 million, up 19% from the previous quarter
  • Capital spending was $436 million, down 48% from last quarter and 43% from the first quarter of 2014
  • Operating cost was $439 million, down 17% from the previous quarter and 15% from the first quarter of 2014.

Read more at repsol.com

Eagle Ford Leads the State

April 2015 Eagle Ford Permits
April 2015 Eagle Ford Permits

Texas Railroad Commission released its latest statistics showing the state’s oil and gas production continues to impress, with the Eagle Ford leading the way.

Original drilling permits issued for April dropped from 1,919 last year to 848. Of the April total, 721 permits were for new oil and gas wells, 9 to re–enter existing well bores and 118 for re–completions.Broken down even further, April permits included 218 for oil, 51 gas, 530 oil and gas, 40 injection, zero service and nine other.

Related: Texas Drilling Permits down 50%

Statewide, well completions were up in April 2015, with operators reporting 1,867 oil, 314 gas, 125 injection and one other completions. In april 2014, there were 1,012 oil, 92 gas, 21 injection and four other completions. Total well completions for the year are still down by several thousand over this time last year.

Activity in the Eagle Ford continues lead the state in April with  176 permits to drill oil and gas, 222 oil completions and 94 gas completions.

Texas’ prime production conditions have provided an environment well-suited for a dynamic, thriving oil and gas industry. Today, Texas continues to drive America’s competitiveness in the world’s oil market and ultimate independence from OPEC.
— Railroad Commissioner, Cristi Craddick

The Commission estimates that final production for March 2015 was 84,879,948 barrels of crude oil and 533,174,979 Mcf of gas, with Eagle Ford counties remaining on top:

COUNTY – CRUDE OIL (BBLS)

  1.  KARNES – 6,755,884
  2.  LA SALLE – 4,586,791
  3.  DE WITT – 4,571,129
  4.  MCMULLEN – 3,252,014
  5.  GONZALES – 3,072,829
  6.  ANDREWS – 3,045,628
  7.  MIDLAND – 2,885,602
  8.  MARTIN – 2,883,997
  9.  UPTON – 2,703,478
  10. 10. REEVES – 2,155,608

Read more at rrc.org

Eagle Ford Rig Count Back to 125

Eagle Ford Rig Count
Eagle Ford Rigs Gain One This Week

The Eagle Ford Shale rig count bounced back up to 125 rigs running across our coverage area by midday Friday.

In recent Eagle Ford news, Matador resources report that the low oil prices have taken a toll on the company’s earnings and caused them to temporarily suspend operations in the Eagle Ford Shale.

Read more: Matador Still Keen on the Eagle Ford

The U.S. rig count fell by 10, ending with 875 rigs running by midday Friday.  A total of 225 rigs were targeting natural gas (an increase of three from the previous week) and 646 were targeting oil in the U.S. (13than the previous week). The remainder were drilling service wells (e.g. disposal wells, injection wells, etc.)369 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

Natural gas rigs in the Eagle Ford gained one to 22 this week and natural gas prices traded at $2.65/mmbtu, an decrease of  $.24 from the previous week.

The oil rig count remained flat at 103 with WTI oil prices continuing to inch upwards this week to $60.21, an increase of $.49. A total of 116 rigs are drilling horizontal wells, zero rigs are drilling directional wells, and vertical rigs stayed at nine. Karnes county leads Eagle Ford drilling this week running 22 rigs, while LaSalle (19) and Webb (18) following closely. See the full list below in the Eagle Ford Shale Drilling by County below.

Eagle Ford Shale Drilling by Count

Eagle Ford Shale News

Penn Virginia Invests in the Eagle Ford

Texas Earthquake Study Under Review

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.

Read more at bakerhughes.com