Photos Of Eagle Ford Shale Oil Wells
Here is a photo of an Eagle Ford Shale oil well in the “oil and condensate window” of this major shale oil play in South Texas. This photo, which was taken on June 25, 2010 is of EOG Resources Hundley lease along the Franklin Ranch Road in McMullen County Texas. The Hundley well was one of several delineation wells drilled by EOG to determine the extent of the Eagle Ford shale oil play. EOG Resources has over 550,000 acres leased in the heart of the “oil window” of the Eagle Ford shale and they have estimated their leases alone to hold over one billion barrels of oil. This “oil window” is where a lot of leasing and drilling activity is currently occurring. The lower part of the Eagle Ford shale, which is deeper and more geologically mature, holds trillions of cubic feet of natural gas. In the northern, shallower edge of the Eagle Ford shale, there is more liquid content with oil and condensate more prevalent. It is because natural gas prices are low and oil prices are high that the oil window of the Eagle Ford shale play is red hot right now. In some areas oil companies are paying up to $6000 an acre or more, just for the right to explore for three to five years, with up to 25% of oil royalties going to the landowner if a well is made.
The Eagle Ford shale is considered by some experts to be the fifth or sixth largest oil discovery made in U.S. history.
In the photo above you can see a small amount of H2S gas being flared and a large vessel used to store condensate. Condensate is lighter than crude and is a very valuable liquid petroleum product, priced similarly to light sweet crude on world markets. A pumpjack can be seen in toward the rear of the lease. This lease consists of multiple horizontal wells. A compressor can be seen in the middle of the photo. Gas is being sold into a gathering pipeline. One consideration in choosing where where new wells are being drilled is proximity to gas pipelines since most of the wells in the oil and condensate window of the Eagle Ford shale will produce natural gas as well. One of the wells, the Hundley #2H was shown by EOG to be producing 493 barrels per day. Below: Flare on an Eagle Ford shale well burning at night.
This is a centralized tank battery in Gonzales county which will be serving about a dozen Eagle Ford shale wells. It contains 24 large oil storage tanks.
Here is another photo of an Eagle Ford shale oil well lease.
Above (right), is a photo of a new oil and gas pipeline being laid south of Jourdanton Texas. Many such medium sized to large pipelines are being laid across South Texas to gather production from the sixth largest oil discovery in U.S. history.
Below: Oilfield traffic in Tilden Texas streams by in the early morning hours.
Below, photo of an oil rig drilling an Eagle Ford shale well near Tilden, TX. Note that there is a pumpjack right next to the rig. This is because there is another horizontal well right next to the one being drilled, going in the opposite direction for several thousand feet. The bottom hole pressure has fallen so that pressurized natural gas will no longer force enough oil up the well, hence the pumpjack to help produce more oil.
Above, (right), new oilfield business serving Eagle Ford shale drilling rigs in Tilden, TX. Next: Pipeline construction equipment near Cotulla, Texas.
An oilfield gate guard checks in a visitor to a drilling site in LaSalle County, Texas.
Crane operator jobs in the Eagle Ford shale pay well. Here an oilfield crane operator lifts new oil storage tanks into place near Los Angeles, in LaSalle county.
Photo of frac tanks used on Eagle Ford shale wells.
Above, photo of Eagle Ford shale natural gas compressor station under construction near Los Angeles, Texas on SH-97.
Photo of an Eagle Ford shale frac pit, used to store water pumped from the Carrizo aquifer which is used to hydraulically fracture wells. (Frac jobs).
Water is a valuable commodity in the Eagle Ford shale, since wells can’t be drilled or completed without it. Companies specializing in laying temporary water lines are setting up offices all over South Texas, such as this one in Big Wells, Texas.
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If you would like to use a high resolution copy of any of the Eagle Ford shale well or pipeline photos you can contact me by clicking on the the contact link at the bottom of this page.
