Eagle Ford Rig Count Drops Below 40

April 30, 2016 Elizabeth Alford

The Eagle Ford Shale rig count fell again this week, ending with 38 rigs running across our coverage area by midday Friday.

In recent Eagle Ford news,Pioneer Natural Resources announces first quarter results this week and hinted that they might restart Eagle Ford activity when crude hits $50.

A total of 419 oil and gas rigs were running across the United States this week, down 12 from last week. 87 were targeting natural gas (one less than the previous week) and 332 were targeting oil in the U.S. (11 less than the previous week). The remainder were drilling service wells (e.g. disposal wells, injection wells, etc.)185 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 increased in the Eagle Ford increased to six this week as natural gas prices rose slightly to $2.18/mmbtu.

The Eagle Ford rigs targeting oil fell this week to 32 with WTI oil prices continue their climb, ending the week at $45.92, a 2.19 increase this week. A total of 35 rigs are drilling horizontal wells, zero are drilling directional wells, and three are vertical rigs.

Karnes County leads development in the region with 11 rigs running 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

Fracking & Water Safety: New Technology

Pioneer Waiting on $50 Oil for Eagle Ford

Will Koch Restart Pipeline?

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.

Fracking & Water Safety: New Technology

April 28, 2016 Elizabeth Alford

Water Usage Increases in Eagle Ford — fracking water contamination

A new test will help monitor the risk of contamination of groundwater due to fracking activity.

As fracking has increased across America and around the world, so has the debate about the risks to the environment and our water supply. Numerous studies are presenting contradictory conclusions and making it hard to determine the truth about the safety of fracking.

Related: Is Fracking Safe?

Researchers from the UK have developed a new way to check for water contamination and could help monitor the safety of shale gas and coal bed methane extraction.

During the fracking process, shale rocks below ground are split with high-pressure fluids to release gas that is recovered for fuel and some claim that the process adversely affects ground water close by.

“Creating this fingerprint test will enable gas exploration and extraction to be carried out responsibly and should help address public concerns over this technology. It is important that careful monitoring of methane levels in nearby waters is carried out when commercial extraction begins.”

— Dr Stuart Gilfillan, University of Edinburgh's School of GeoSciences

These scientist plan to presenting their findings at the European Geosciences Union Conference in Vienna.

Other fracking studies:

Yale: measured well water near fracked wells concludes that ‘there was no evidence of association with deeper brines or long-range migration of these compounds to the shallow aquifers
EPA: claimed certain fracking activities that have the potential to impact drinking water resources but found no evidence that these activities have led to widespread, systemic impacts on drinking water in the United States.
John Hopkins : concluded possible adverse health outcomes associated with fracking

Pioneer Waiting on $50 Oil for Eagle Ford

April 27, 2016 Elizabeth Alford

Chesapeake Released 2015 Q1 — Pioneer Earnings Report

Pioneer Natural Resources announces first quarter results and hints that they might restart Eagle Ford activity when crude hits $50.

In February, Pioneer announced they were halting all drilling in the Eagle Ford due to severe downturn. But in an earnings call this week, executives gave some hints about their plans for their South Texas assets.

“...so if WTI gets to $50 we would look at restarting Eagle Ford. We’ll have to make a decision at the time if we had 10 rigs for instance and 17, do we take two of those rigs and put them in the Eagle Ford? But, I could see us adding a couple of rigs in Eagle Ford.”

— Scott Sheffield, Chairman and CEO commented

For the first quarter of 2016, Pioneer Natural Resources had an adjusted loss of $104 million alongside record production. Other Q1 highlights include:

Production: 222,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day. Oil production is up 10,000 barrels of oil per day or 9% versus the fourth quarter of 2015.
55 horizontal wells on production in the Spraberry/Wolfcamp
Reduced combined production cost and G&A expense per barrel oil equivalent (BOE) by 15% compared to the fourth quarter of 2015
starting up the new Targa-operated Spraberry/Wolfcamp gas processing plant, which has a capacity of 200 million cubic feet per day (MMCFPD); and
increasing oil and gas derivative coverage for 2017.

Pioneer plans to keep capital expenditures at $2 billion for 2016, $1.5 billion for drilling and $150 million for vertical integration systems upgrades and field facilities.

Will Koch Restart Pipeline?

April 25, 2016 Elizabeth Alford

Japan Eyes Eagle Ford Natural Gas — Koch Considers Restarting Pipeline

Eagle Ford Midstream company considers a restart of existing pipeline system.

Koch Pipeline Company, L.P. (KPL) announced last week that it is evaluating whether it might restart an existing crude oil pipeline system in the northeastern section of the Eagle Ford Shale. The potential restart would start in 2016 an would include pipeline, storage and truck unloading stations in Burleson and Lee counties in Texas.

“As a company we are always exploring ways to provide value for our customers. We are excited about the opportunity to possibly restart this pipeline to provide enhanced transportation alternatives to Eaglebine producers.”

— Koch President, Steve Kromer

Koch operates about 540 miles of pipeline in South Texas and is one of the largest pipeline transporters of South Texas crude. Last year, the company restarted a 56-mile section of this system in Bastrop County, which included storage and a truck unloading facility.

Eagle For Rig Counts Slips to 40

April 23, 2016 Elizabeth Alford

The Eagle Ford Shale rig count fell by two, ending the week with 40 rigs running across our coverage area by midday Friday.

In recent Eagle Ford news, Goodrich Petroleum announced that they are seeking to eliminate approximately $400 million in debt through a Chapter 11 restructuring plan.

A total of 431 oil and gas rigs were running across the United States this week, down one from last week. 88 were targeting natural gas (seven more than the previous week) and 343 were targeting oil in the U.S. (eight less than the previous week). The remainder were drilling service wells (e.g. disposal wells, injection wells, etc.)187 of the rigs active in the U.S. were running in Texas.

Eagle Ford Oil & Gas Rigs

Natural gas rigs increased in the Eagle Ford remained at five this week as natural gas prices jumped to $2.14/mmbtu.

The Eagle Ford rigs targeting oil fell this week to 35 as WTI oil prices continue their climb, ending the week at $43.73, a 3.37 increase this week. A total of 38 rigs are drilling horizontal wells, zero are drilling directional wells, and two are vertical rigs.

Karnes and Webb counties both lead development in the region each running with 10 rigs. See the full list below in the Eagle Ford Shale Drilling by County below.

Eagle Ford Shale Drilling by County

Eagle Ford Shale News

Oil Import Quotas Proposed

Abraxas: 20% Pay Cuts for Top Executives

Goodrich Petroleum Files for Chapter 11