The Eagle Ford Shale is one of the most significant domestic oil finds in decades and is currently the most active shale play in the world producing oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids. This immense hydrocarbon producing formation in South Texas is considered to be one of the most noteworthy oil and natural gas discoveries ever found in the state.
The name Eagle Ford comes from the small Texas town where the shale outcrops can be found in clay form on the earth’s surface. The Eagle Ford Shale is made up of sedimentary rock that contains oil and natural gas; it is the source rock for Austin Chalk, located 4,000 to 14,000 feet below the earth’s surface.
The Eagle Ford Shale extends approximately 50-miles wide, 400-miles long and has an average thickness of 250 feet. The shale is most commonly associated with the 14-county region that surrounds the play, including: Atascosa, Bee, DeWitt, Dimmit, Frio, Gonzales, Karnes, La Salle, Live Oak, Maverick, McMullen, Webb, Wilson, and Zavala. The Eagle Ford is also frequently correlated with six additional counties that are experiencing tremendous indirect and induced impact from the shale play, namely Bexar, Jim Wells, Nueces, San Patricio, Uvalde and Victoria Counties. Collectively, these counties are referred to as the surrounding “20-county region.”