Eagle Ford Shale Blog Photography 2012
The Eagle Ford Shale Blog is the only site actively documenting the massive South Texas oil play in photos and video. Articles are nice, but sometimes pictures are worth a thousand words. We’ve found that it is hard to keep up with all of the new developments and bring you the latest news on the Eagle Ford Shale without actually getting away from the computer and going out to where things are happening. Lately the Eagle Ford Shale Blog’s editor has been putting some mileage on the old truck, with over 1,500 miles driven across South Texas in the past month alone. Below are some recent Eagle Ford shale photos of rigs, pipeline projects, wildlife and more that we have taken in the spring of 2012.
A new Weatherford Pumpjack at night in the Eagle Ford shale. This pumping unit, like many others, is running on a portable generator until power lines can be installed. Hundreds upon hundreds of miles of new power lines will be required across South Texas to power pump jacks and other oilfield equipment.
Click On Any Of The Photos Below To Enlarge
Below, a drilling rig towers above a picturesque ranch scene near Hochheim Texas, in DeWitt county.
North of Tilden Texas, in McMullen county, wild turkeys forage near a directional rig drilling a new Eagle Ford shale well for Chesapeake, near the community of Cross. Lately those with hunting leases in the Eagle Ford shale region of South Texas are finding things a bit more crowded and noisy than they are accustomed to. All of the new drilling activity seems to be bothering hunters more than wildlife though. Flush with revenue from oil leases and royalty payments, many ranchers in South Texas are abandoning hunting leasing entirely.
Owner’s of vacuum truck and oil hauling service companies are still seeking qualified drivers. Truck driving jobs in the Eagle Ford shale have been hard to fill due to high demand as well as a lack of qualified applicants. In this photo, JM Oilfield Service in Gonzales county has placed a banner on a tanker trailer next to the highway, hoping to attract applicants for winch truck and vacuum truck driver jobs.
Just northwest of Columbus, along SH-71, a sprawling pipe yard holds miles of new line pipe for Eagle Ford Shale pipelines.
Below: Eagle Ford shale pipeline welders and welding inspectors make their marks on a large pipeline junction near Los Angeles, Texas.
Ever cautious of overhead power lines, pipeline construction workers and heavy equipment operators carefully excavate a trench next to SH-16, south of Jourdanton, TX.
A large frac water pit stores water used to hydraulically fracture or “frac” new horizontal wells north of Cuero, Texas.
Below: We altered the sign on this photo of gas pumps to illustrate why we need to develop shale plays such as the Eagle Ford. Refineries such as Valero Energy’s, in Three Rivers, are now getting as much as 80% of their oil from the Eagle Ford shale. Much of that crude is used to make gasoline, diesel and jet fuel.
“May Contain Up To 10% Oil From Countries Hostile To The USA.” Sign altered by the author.
Below: Though not an Eagle Ford Shale pumpjack, this small stripper well near Luling has been producing oil for nearly eighty years. Jensen Pumpjacks have been manufactured for about that same length of time. Time will tell how long Eagle Ford shale wells will last, though some companies such as EOG Resources are predicting 20 plus year production curves. A well becomes a “stripper well” when it produces less than ten barrels of oil per day on average.
New oil well with Weatherford pump jack on the Atascosa county line, near Campbelton Texas.
If you have any Eagle Ford shale photos that you would like to share, or if you would like to request permission to use any images found on the Eagle Ford Shale Blog, please contact us at the link below. Article by Nolan Hart, copyright 2012.