South Texas drillers ring in new year with Eagle Ford ramp-up, landmark M&As

By Zoe Gottlieb
click here to read the original article at bizjournals.com
*this article was not written by Roseland Oil & Gas

The oil and gas industry may be facing a tidal wave of regulatory changes in 2024, but that hasn’t slowed down drilling efforts in one of Texas’ richest shales.

The Eagle Ford was rampant with activity this year, with new drills led by three Houston-based companies, according to the Business Journal’s Top 10 drillers in the Eagle Ford Shale for 2023: a list the Top 10 drillers ranked by number of drilling permits approved by the Railroad Commission of Texas.

The Top 10 drillers in order were EOG Resources Inc. (NYSE: EOG); Burlington Resources O&G CO LP; Grit Oil and Gas Management LLC; Marathon Oil EF LLC (NYSE: MRO); BPX Operating Co.; Devon Energy Production Co. LP (NYSE: DVN); Trinity Operating LLC; Hilcorp Energy Company; Magnolia Oil and Gas Operating LLC (NYSE: MGY); and SilverBow Resources Operating LLC (NYES:SBOW).

EOG took the top spot among Eagle Ford operators this year, with 181 approved permit applications, followed by Burlington, with 142 approved drilling permit applications.

The top three Eagle Ford drillers were all based out of Houston, according to the dataset. The average number of new drilling permits a Top 10 company had approved was 89. Grit saw the largest upswing, with a 427% increase in new drilling permits approved from 2021 to 2023.

Since the list was compiled in September, EOG has filed another 76 applications for new wells in the Eagle Ford Shale, bringing its grand total to 257 applications.

Along with new Eagle Ford activity, 2023 has also been a hot year for oil and gas mergers and acquisitions. In August, Oklahoma City-based Chesapeake Energy Corp. (Nasdaq: CHK) announced a $700 million deal to sell its remaining assets in the Eagle Ford Shale to SilverBow Resources Inc. Just a few months later, Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) announced the acquisition of major Permian leaseholder Pioneer Natural Resources Co. (NYSE: PXD) for approximately $60 billion – one of the largest oil and gas mergers in U.S. history.

The Houston Business Journal reported in October that Exxon Mobil agreed to sell all of its oil and gas interests in the Freestone Trend area to Houston-based Hilcorp Energy Co. for an undisclosed purchase price to focus on its “industry-leading portfolio of opportunities.”

Exxon Mobil reportedly plans to lay off 120 employees in December as a result of the sale.

# Drilling Permits, Eagle Ford Shale 2023

By Zoe Gottlieb
click here to read the original article at bizjournals.com
*this article was not written by Roseland Oil & Gas