Comstock Eagle Ford Shale Drilling Program

Plunging natural gas prices are leading companies such as Comstock Resources to flee  the Haynesville shale and other mostly gas plays. The rigs continue to pour south to the Eagle Ford shale as high oil prices hold. Comstock Resources recently announced that it plans to exit the Haynesville shale entirely in order to focus on the Eagle Ford shale in South Texas and on the Wolfcamp play in West Texas.  Oil production grew by 78% in the fourth quarter of 2011 as Comstock’s Eagle Ford shale drilling program gained momentum.

“We plan to focus for the remainder of this year on our Eagle Ford Shale program in South Texas and our Wolfcamp program in West Texas,” said Mark Williams, Comstock’s vice president of operations, in a recent conference call with analysts.

Comstock Resources Eagle Ford shale acreage totals 35,000 gross acres. It is located primarily in McMullen, LaSalle, Frio and Atascosa counties. See map of their Eagle Ford shale acreage below.

Comstock Resources drilled 20 net wells in the Eagle Ford shale in 2011, with an average IP (initial production) of 802 BOE/day. (BOE = Barrels of oil equivalent).

Comstock plans to drill 24 new wells in the oil window of the Eagle Ford shale in 2012. As the move away from gas only plays continues, the company will spend 77% of the 2012 drilling budget on oil wells. By the end of the year, oil wells will comprise 92% of the net wells drilled.