The discovery of the Hawkville Field in October 2008 kicked off a drilling and development boom the likes of which South Texas had not seen before. The discovery well—the STS-241 #1H, drilled by Petrohawk Energy Corp. in LaSalle County—would be the first of many horizontal wells in the Eagle Ford Shale play. In the 11 years since that initial discovery, the play is now considered one of the most mature unconventional plays, with more than 25,000 horizontal wells spudded, according to Drillinginfo.

In an exclusive report provided to E&P, Drillinginfo projects a 4% increase in production guidance from the Eagle Ford, forecasting third-quarter 2019 oil and gas production of 1.43 MMbbl/d and 194 MMcm/d (6.87 Bcf/d), respectively. For year-end 2020, oil and gas projected production is 1.49 MMbbl/d and 193 MMcm/d (6.82 Bcf/d), according to the report.

DrillingInfo
The East Eagle Ford has recently experienced much higher frac intensity relative to the West Eagle Ford in proppant (1,200-plus lb/ft) and fluid (20-plus bbl/ft). (Source: Drillinginfo)
DrillingInfo
Drilling metrics have improved since 2017 with faster drilling times in footage drilled per day and lower average rig days on location. Well productivity has been very consistent over the past several years in the play. This trend illustrates that the maturity of the Eagle Ford is unique compared to other unconventional plays. (Source: Drillinginfo)
DrillingInfo
In the West Eagle Ford well spacing decreased until 2016, and recently completed wells have had wider spacing than prior years. The still-emerging East Eagle Ford has stayed at an average of four to six wells per section for the past several years. Drillinginfo analyzes spacing distances in statistical bins that allow a clear visualization of the trends seen in the dataset. Well productivity has been fairly consistent across different spacing bins. In general, downspacing results have been very successful in the Eagle Ford. (Source: Drillinginfo)
Onshore