Eagle Ford Shale

ZaZa Energy Corp. recently struck a joint venture (JV) deal with Sabine Oil & Gas LLC unit Sabine South Texas LLC to jointly develop its Sweet Home prospect in the Eagle Ford Shale.

Natural gas production in the Marcellus Shale continues to surge higher, with 12.9 Bcf/d expected to come out of the prolific play in December, a 3.3% increase from 12.5 Bcf/d in November, according to EIA’s second Drilling Productivity Report (DPR) for key tight oil and shale gas regions.

Onshore powerhouse EOG Resources Inc. expects to ramp up 2014 activity and capital spending in the Eagle Ford and Bakken shales, assuming oil and natural gas prices are similar to current New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex) prices, outgoing Executive Chairman Mark Papa said last week.

Spectra Energy and Spectra Energy Partners Monday announced they have executed new long-term contracts to bi-directionally transport 650,000 Dth/d of natural gas on their Texas Eastern Transmission (Tetco) system to accommodate the growing manufacturing sector and liquefied natural gas (LNG) export market along the Louisiana and Texas coast.

With a checkbook fattened by a recent Permian Basin asset sale, Comstock Resources is on the hunt for acreage in two emerging oil plays somewhere in its historic stomping grounds of Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Mississippi. CEO Jay Allison is prepared to spend $120 million in two basins, but he’s not saying exactly where.

Texans have voted overwhelmingly for a constitutional amendment to allocate $2 billion from the state’s “rainy day” fund to programs intended to secure water supplies in the frequently drought-stricken state. The measure had the support of the oil and gas industry, whose use of water for hydraulic fracturing is often scrutinized.

The Texas Petro Index (TPI), a barometer of oil and gas activity in the Lone Star State, set another record in September, mainly on the back of robust oil production. But while natural gas production declines, stronger prices more than compensate.

Marathon Oil Corp. continued to raise its game in the Eagle Ford Shale during the third quarter, improving drilling times by 20% from a year ago and bringing drilling and completion costs down by 20%. The company still plans to exit the year with net production of about 100,000 boe/d from the South Texas play.

ConocoPhillips executives said most of the company’s production growth during 3Q2013 came from shale plays in the Lower 48 — especially the Eagle Ford and the Bakken — and predicted “significant growth and very high margin growth” from the Eagle Ford for several more years.