Eagle Ford Rig Count Remains Steady

October 24, 2015 Elizabeth Alford

The Eagle Ford Shale rig count stayed flat ending the week with 94 rigs running across our coverage area by midday Friday.

In recent Eagle Ford news, presidential hopeful Dr. Ben Carson spoke to a San Antonio crowd of over 2,000 last weekend saying he supports lifting the federal crude oil export ban and the controversial Keystone XL Pipeline.

A total of 787 oil and gas rigs were running across the United States this week. 193 were targeting natural gas (one more than the previous week) and 594were targeting oil in the U.S. (one less than the previous week). The remainder were drilling service wells (e.g. disposal wells, injection wells, etc.)346 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 below.

Eagle Ford Oil & Gas Rigs

Natural gas rigs in the Eagle Ford are at 12 this week as natural gas prices fell slightly, trading at $2.29/mmbtu, a $.14 decrease from the previous week.

The oil rig count stayed at 82 with WTI oil prices ending the week at $44.60, a decrease of $2.92. A total of 86 rigs are drilling horizontal wells, two are drilling directional wells, and six are vertical rigs. Karnes County leads the region in development with 23 rigs 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

Shale Oil Down But Not Out

Eagle Ford Explosion Under Investigation

EIA: Eagle Ford Production to Fall

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.

Shale Oil Down But Not Out

October 22, 2015 Elizabeth Alford

alt="Eagle Ford at One Billion Barrels" — Eagle Ford Oil

The shale revolution is on hold as a global oversupply of oil and low prices continue to haunt producers.

In December, OPEC announced that it would not decrease production in order to curb the falling price of crude. OPEC continued this strategy throughout the year, which has caused major economic consequences, including impacting the US shale industry’s output.

Since April, oil production in the major shale plays has decreased sharply, with the Eagle Ford being the biggest loser. The Eagle Ford has lost 300,000 barrels a day and other major plays also experiencing a decrease include the Bakken Shale in North Dakota, the Utica Shale in Ohio and the Niobrara in Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska and Wyoming. Total production from shale plays fell by 350,000 barrels.

But despite the oil glut and sharply depressed crude prices, U.S. producers have hardly been knocked out and have managed to increase their efficiency and productive capacity throughout the year.

“The resilience of U.S. shale producers has surpassed all expectations as they have wrung extra efficiencies out of their operations and pulled rigs back to the most prolific sections of existing plays. The shale sector’s ability to cut costs and sustain their output in the face of plunging prices has been extraordinary and testament to the entrepreneurial spirit and technical skill of the independent producers.”

— RigZone

OPEC has effectively managed to reset supply in the markets to pre-shale oil boom levels, but the productive capacity still remains and is likely to restart as soon as crude prices climb.

Eagle Ford Explosion Under Investigation

October 21, 2015 Elizabeth Alford

Karnes County Well Explosion — Eagle Ford Explosion

A natural gas explosion last week in the Eagle Ford's LaSalle County is still under investigation, as company officials say they will rebuild.

Early Friday morning, a pipeline near the small town of Encinal exploded causing evacuations and school closures. The natural gas explosions caused a fire at a Lewis Energy Group facility, which burned for about six hours before being contained by 10 a.m.

The Lewis Energy Facility has a clean accident record according to the Texas Railroad Commission of Texas and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

Lewis Energy is working to clean up the site and take other safety precautions. Company attorney Tony Treviño reported that the company has isolated the facility from their natural gas pipeline network and will be looking at options to rebuild it at a different location away from the town's population.

“This effort will likely take several months and we will apply lessons learned from the investigation to our operation,” Treviño said. “In the meantime, production volumes that were flowing to the facility have been diverted to other outlets away from the facility but approximately 25 percent of the production remains shut in.”

Lewis Energy currently operates more than 1400 natural gas wells and has been drilling and completing Eagle Ford Shale wells since 2002. The company also has operations in Mexico and Colombia.

The last Eagle Ford explosion happened in June, when an underground pipeline belonging to Energy Transfer Partners exploded in DeWitt County near the town of Cuero. Read more.

Ben Carson Addresses Eagle Ford Crowd

October 20, 2015 Elizabeth Alford

Presidential candidate weighs in on energy issues crucial to the Eagle Ford.

Dr. Ben Carson made an appearance to a crowd of over 2,000 last weekend for a little campaigning and to sign copies of his new book, "A More Perfect Union". During the visit, Carson told the San Antonio Business Journal that he supports lifting the federal crude oil export ban and the controversial Keystone XL Pipeline.

“We need to use the EPA to work with business, industry and academia to find the cleanest, most environmentally friendly way to utilize our tremendous energy resources.”

— Ben Carson

Texas energy legend T. Boone Pickens recently expressed support for Carson, saying he "likes Mr. Pickens’ creative, positive and innovative thinking, on energy, and other American issues." Pickens has made it a personal agenda to 'educate' presidential hopefuls on key energy issues.

“Dr. Carson believes in unleashing the energy potential that resides within this country. As such, we are in favor of an energy policy that, among other things, promotes fracking and repeals the oil export ban.”

— Doug Watts, Carson communications director

As the presidential race heats up, energy issues will certainly set the candidates apart. In a recent UT study, nearly half of respondents (48 percent) are familiar with hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, compared with 44 percent a year ago. Among those familiar, 43 percent support fracking and 41 oppose it; a year ago, 44 percent supported the practice and 41 percent opposed it.

EIA: Eagle Ford Production to Fall

October 19, 2015 Elizabeth Alford

Eagle Ford Production | click to enlarge

Oil and gas production in the Eagle Ford is expected to drop for the eighth straight month in November.

Related: Shale Industry Shake-Up

The U.S. Energy Information Administration released its latest numbers that project a drop in production in November by 71,000 barrels daily for the Eagle Ford.

The industry has been hit hard by falling crude oil prices, with energy companies drilling and completing fewer wells. Oil prices were higher than $100 per barrel last summer but was trading around $47 Friday.

Production is also slipping in the Bakken and Niobrara fields, according to EIA.

In addition to falling production, other indicators are showing the strain of low oil prices in Texas:

Texas has seen a halt in job growth with almost 28,300 jobs cut in the industry over the past six months.
Over the last few weeks, the Eagle Ford Shale rig count fell below 100 and ended last week at 94.
Environmentalists are calling for a halt to drilling on university lands, which would be “disastrous for the University system and the Texas economy.”
Many Eagle Ford producers are selling assets and making deals in order to survive
- Sanchez is selling approximately 150 miles of midstream infrastructure
- Alta Mesa Holdings will exit from the Eagle Ford by selling Alta Mesa Eagle, LLC to EnerVest for $125 million.