Eagle Ford's oil and gas industry

Eagleford: Hydrocarbons renaissance

Eagle Ford’s oil and gas industry has continued to rise in importance since 2008 when it became the world’s most active shale play, transforming the US’s position in the global energy mix. Since then, production has grown significantly. Eagle Ford accounts for a large share of Texas’ production along with producing fields on the state’s Permian Basin. Texas is the top oil and gas producer in the US, traditionally accounting for just under half of its oil production and a quarter of its natural gas production. The state is also the US’ highest consumer of petroleum products, with its industrial sector taking the lion’s share.

The Eagle Ford shale formation is located in Texas and forms an arc from the Mexican border to around 640 kilometres northeast of Houston and Austin. The 51,800-square-kilometre play is divided into three windows, with the northern section containing mostly crude oil, the central section containing mostly gas liquids such as ethane, propane and butane, and the southern section holding mostly natural gas deposits.

The region has attracted many E&P operators taking advantage of opportunities, with the largest players on the Eagle Ford formation being EOG Resources, ConocoPhillips, Marathon Oil, Chesapeake Energy and China National Offshore Oil Corporation. Players have taken advantage of new horizontal drilling technologies to tap previously untouched plays, with more recoverable resources still untapped in the region.

Production from the Eagle Ford basin has given rise to the US’ largest cluster of oil refineries, predominantly located in ports along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, consisting of around a quarter of the nation’s oil refining capacity. Gas production has also seen a huge rise in LNG terminals in Texas, accounting for more than half of the country’s LNG export capacity and rising. Despite being a net LNG importer in the past, a large rise in LNG production has seen the US join the ranks as a top global LNG exporter along with Qatar and Australia.

Alongside its coastal marine exports, Texas also boasts a considerable gas pipeline network that pumps the resource across the state, into Mexico and towards the rest of the US. While gas enters Texas’ pipeline system from other states, a larger part of gas is exported, with almost three times more natural gas departing the state than entering.