Eagle Ford Basin | August 2023

Field Overview

A heavy shale play, the Eagle Ford basin is located east of the Permian, stretching from Dallas to San Antonio. Primarily a gas play with smaller oil plays, it boasts proven reserves of 3.37 billion bbl of oil and 2.5 TCF of gas.

State Drilling Statistics

Active Drilling Rigs in Basin- 49 (-3)
Total Rigs in Texas- 312 (+5)

Total Rigs in the United States- 630 (-2)
Total U.S. Rigs 17.5% YTD

Eagle Ford Top Producer

Top Producer- EOG Resources

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Basin Highlights

Chesapeake Strikes Final Deal in Eagle Ford Divesture

Chesapeake Energy, an independent US energy company, has agreed to sell SilverBow Resources its remaining Eagle Ford Shale holdings for $700 million. The agreement covers roughly 540 wells and nearly 42,000 acres in the Eagle Ford’s condensate window. Almost 29,000 BOE/D, or 60% liquid hydrocarbons, were produced from the property according to Chesapeake’s reported output during the second quarter of the year. The Oklahoma City-based company estimated the asset’s remaining proven reserves at 124 million BOE as of year-end 2022. The deal represents the last step in Chesapeake’s long-awaited divestiture of its liquids-rich Eagle Ford asset, which at almost 450,000 net acres was one of the largest in the area. Since changing its strategy a year ago, the company has become the second-largest gas producer in the US thanks to operations in the Pennsylvanian Marcellus Shale and the Louisiana Haynesville Shale.

SilverBow to acquire South Texas Eagle Ford assets from Chesapeake

A separate article has also reported the acquisition raises SilverBow’s anticipated net production for the fourth quarter of 2023 to 87,000–99,000 boe/d. In addition, there are 300 more high-confidence drilling sites spread across the Austin Chalk and Eagle Ford formations that are currently in direct competition for funding, according to a statement released by SilverBow on August 14.

Haynesville DUC Count Questioned as US Gas Production Forecast to Slip

In contrast to the 100 MMcf/d decline in August, lower 48 states’ natural gas production is predicted to decline by 147 MMcf/d in September. According to the most recent forecast from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), the Haynesville Shale is responsible for around 63% of the predicted drop for next month. However, analysts have noted a possible overcount by the EIA in the quantity of DUCs accessible in the play, as has E&P Chesapeake Energy. According to EIA data, the average monthly production in the play is increased by 9%, or 1.37 Bcf/d, compared to the first three quarters of 2022, even though businesses have put up rigs in Haynesville. In an Aug. 18 report, Sanford C. Bernstein analyst Jean Ann Salisbury questioned how many of the Haynesville’s DUCs are “real.” Salisbury noted that Chesapeake and Southwestern said on recent earnings calls that the true number of viable DUCs is probably closer to 200 than 786, “obviously a big difference.”

Top Operators By Permit Approvals

Top Operators by Production

Rig Count

Texas Oil Production

Texas Gas Production

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The information contained in this newsletter is provided by RARE
PETRO Engineering, PLLC via the following sources unless otherwise
noted:

www.eia.gov
www.drillinginfo.com
www.bhge.com
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