Encana to Add 100 New Eagle Ford Locations

November 17, 2016 Elizabeth Alford

Encana Corp. announces third quarter results including plans to add 100 new locations to its Eagle Ford portfolio.

Encana CEO, Douglas James Suttles shared with investors last week that the third quarter for 2016 delivered very strong financial results, including exceptional operational performance and continued capital and operating efficiencies.

Eagle Ford Operations

Encana announced that in the Eagle Ford, the company is currently executing a new completion design that is substantially increasing productivity.

“We’re in the process of updating our inventory and expect to add at least 100 locations to our Eagle Ford inventory. Note that we previously had zero Austin Chalk locations included. We also expect to spud at least three new Austin Chalk wells before year-end. We are maximizing capital productivity by utilizing our existing Eagle Ford facilities for this program.”

— Mike McAllister, COO of Encana Corp.

Other highlights for Q3 include:

Three new Lower Eagle Ford wells came on during the quarter using the new design with a 125% increase in productivity
Completed two Austin Chalk wells that delivered initial 30-day production rates of about 2,000 BOE/d and 3,100 BOE/d with oil comprising about 80 percent

Lonestar Gains Cash for Eagle Ford Development

November 15, 2016 Elizabeth Alford

Lonestar Resources U.S., Inc. plans to use funds from the $16.2 million sale of non conventional resources to fund Eagle Ford development and to improve the Company’s operating cost structure

Lonestar announced a net loss of $11.3 million for the third quarter of 2016 while reducing lease operating expenses by 6%. During the quarter, the Company focused primarily on balance sheet improvements, which they see as crucia to their future growth.

“The good news is that we’ve got a phenomenal team and we’ve while undertaken curtailed activity, we’ve really made that activity count in terms of, I think becoming an industry leader in the way we think about cost effective production in the Eagle Ford.”

— CEO, Frank D. Bracken III

The company Lonestar Resources U.S., Inc. plans to use funds from the $16.2 million sale of non conventional resources to fund Eagle Ford development and to improve the Company’s operating cost structure.

Eagle Ford highlights for Q3 include:

Completed no new Eagle Ford Shale wells
8% decrease in Eagle Ford Shale production
Volumes of 5,921 Boe/d consisted of 3,175 barrels of oil per day, 1,238 barrels of NGLs per day, and 9,041 Mcf of natural gas per day
Lonestar executed a lease swap agreement (Burns Ranch) with another operator and consolidated Lonestar’s leasehold position so that we can now drill at our own discretion
In central Brazos County, Lonestar has permitted two 8,000‐foot laterals with the Texas Railroad Commission and was granted operations permits with the City of College Station
In august, Lonestar joined with Lucas Energy to devleop over 1,450 gross acres in the Eagle Ford

Maverick Oil and Gas Is Bullish on the Eagle Ford

November 14, 2016 Elizabeth Alford

November has been a big month for Maverick Oil and Gas as they take the offensive with plans to develop their Eagle Ford assets.

Maverick closed a deal last week on its key on a deal last week to sell its Blue Ridge Field in eastern Fort Bend County for$9.1 million.

In a letter to shareholders last week, CEO J. Michael Yeager wrote that the sale of Blue Ridge allows the company to focus solely on our new Eagle Ford acreage. The plan is for Maverick to use the new resources to develop their acreage in Dimmit County, which is upwards of 13,000 acres.

“We are assembling our drilling plans. We are working on prices, equipment, people and services every day. We are still targeting to drill very late in this quarter and into the first quarter of next year. We will update you on those plans as they are finalized. Our first wells are very important and we want to get it right.”

— CEO J. Michael Yeager

This deal places Maverick solidly in the oil window of the Eagle Ford formation. Maverick is finalizing plans for its initial drilling program to commence in the fourth quarter of 2016 and extend into the first quarter of 2017.

Last week, Maverick shareholders agreed to change the company’s name to Freedom Oil and Gas.

Other companies are getting bullish on the Eagle Ford. Earlier this month, Dallas-based Titanium Exploration Partners, LLC joined with Värde Partners to increase their presence in the Eagle Ford by purchassing 3,900 net acres with production of 1,050 barrels of oil equivalent per day.

Eagle Ford Operators Add Two More RigsEagle Ford Operators Put Rigs Back Online

November 11, 2016 Elizabeth Alford

The Eagle Ford Shale rig count increased by two this week, with our data showing 44 rigs running across our coverage area by midday Friday.

In recent Eagle Ford news, operators and mineral owners in Texas are looking to the 2017 legislative session to bring clarity over allocation wells.

A total of 567 oil and gas rigs were running across the United States this week, a gain of zero over last week. 115 rigs targeted natural gas (two less than the previous week) and 452 were targeting oil in the U.S. (two more than the previous week). The remainder were drilling service wells (e.g. disposal wells, injection wells, etc.) 268 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

Eight rigs in the Eagle Ford region targeted natural gas this week with the commodity dropping to $2.62/mmbtu.

36 Eagle Ford rigs were targeting oil with WTI oil prices dipping to $43.46 .

A total of 40 rigs are drilling horizontal wells, zero are drilling directional wells and four are vertical.

LaSalle County leads production this week with 10 rigs in production. See the full list below in the Eagle Ford Shale Drilling by County below.

Eagle Ford Shale Drilling by County

Eagle Ford Shale News

Carizzo Spends Big in the Eagle Ford

Noble Energy Adds Eagle Ford Rig

Sanchez Reports Excellent Quarter

Texas Mineral Owners & Operators Headed for a Showdown?

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.

Noble Energy Adds Eagle Ford Rig

November 10, 2016 Elizabeth Alford

Noble Energy, Inc. has announced outstanding production performance and cost control for the third quarter of 2016 including adding another rig in the Eagle Ford Shale.

Related: Noble Energy to Cut Jobs

Noble reported its third quarter results last week, including sales volumes of 425 thousand barrels of oil equivalent per day (MBoe/d). The company’s capital expenditures of $297 million were substantially below expectation and reflect increased operational efficiencies.

In spite of a net loss of $144 million, President and CEO David L. Stover said that the company’s operating and financial numbers are “up where we want them to be up and down where we want them to be down.”

Eagle Ford Operations

Sales volumes for the company’s Eagle Ford operations increased 11% from the third quarter of 2015. Other quarterly highlights include:

Drilled and commenced production on 5 wells
Commenced production on 5 Lower Eagle Ford wells in the Gates Ranch area
Closed on the sale of approximately 11,000 non-core acres in the Eagle Ford for $68 million at the end of the quarter. The acreage sold included small positions in La Salle, Atascosa, Live Oak and Dimmit counties where we had not engaged in drilling activity since the merger with Rosetta Resources Inc.
25 wells drilled but uncompleted
Eagle Ford production made up 84 percent of the volumes
Added one rigs to the company’s Eagle Ford area

In September, Noble executives told the Houston Chronicle that the company will initiate a fourth round of layoffs by the end of the year. The cuts will be in the exploration sector in order for the company to refocus efforts on production.