The Bakken in North Dakota gets the lion’s share of hype in the oil and gas industry.
And Lord knows Energy and Capital has done its part spreading the word…
Deservedly so. North Dakota set another record for oil production this past March, when oil production came in at 782,934 barrels per day.
I’m sure when the numbers are released for April, it’ll be another banner month.
But for all of the success North Dakota has enjoyed, another shale formation to the south is doing something quite remarkable…
Take a look at this chart:
This is a chart of oil production growth in the Eagle Ford in Texas.
To say it’s gone hyperbolic would be an understatement. The truth is production in the Eagle Ford is growing faster than anywhere else in the world.
Like the Bakken, the Eagle Ford continues to set record oil production month after month. In fact, since 2010, oil production has grown a staggering 2,983%!
And since 2008 — the year we made our first investments in the Bakken — oil production in the Eagle Ford has grown 132,744%!
Yes, you’re reading that correctly.
So let’s get familiar with this shale formation, because it’s high time we begin to profit from it…
A Brief History of the Eagle Ford
The Eagle Ford is located in South Texas and produces from various depths between 4,000 and 14,000 feet. It’s 400 miles long and 50 miles wide.
The play takes its name from the town of Eagle Ford, Texas, where the shale outcrops at the surface in clay form.
The Eagle Ford is a geological formation directly beneath the Austin Chalk. It is considered to be the source rock, or the original source, of hydrocarbons that are contained in the Austin Chalk above it.
The formation was penetrated many times as operators targeted the Edwards Limestone formation along the Edwards Reef Trend.
Remember what I’ve said about the significance of drilling the source rock: The source rock is like a pressure cooker cooking the oil. Source rocks are typically so full of oil, it pushes the hydrocarbons to surrounding reservoirs.
That’s exactly what we’ve seen in California. The Monterey Shale is the source rock for all of the surrounding oil that’s been pumped out for the last 100 years.
Similar to surface seeps, if you can visibly see shale rock at the surface, then it’s very likely there’s oil underneath…
The Eagle Ford is the most active shale play in the world, with over 200 rigs running. And drillers are indicating the play will be developed for decades to come.
One of the biggest players in the Eagle Ford is EOG Resources (NYSE: EOG), a $36 billion company doing annual revenue of $12 billion.
EOG has operations all over the world, but they’re doubling down on the Eagle Ford. And they recently announced blockbuster results…
They’ve completed 27 wells producing 2,500 barrels per day. These results are so good, EOG plans to drill 425 wells in 2013.
But even though EOG Resources is a big player in the Eagle Ford, there are other ways to play it for bigger profits…
In the coming months, we’ll be positioning ourselves in some strategic plays — and, as always, we’ll be sharing this intel with you, our readers.
Stay tuned,
Brian Hicks
Check us out on YouTube!Brian is a founding member and President of Angel Publishing. He writes about general investment strategies for Wealth Daily and Energy and Capital. For more on Brian, take a look at his editor’s page.
