South Texas Struggling With Oil Boom

CARRIZO SPRINGS, Texas -- Once sleepy South Texas towns are finding themselves wide awake, caught in the whirlwind of an oil boom.

Residents of Carrizo Springs, formerly a town of just fewer than 6,000 people, are finding empty store shelves and crowded streets that are crumbling under the weight of nearly 3,000 newcomers.

The growth comes courtesy of the development of the Eagle Ford Shale deposit, which has been billed as the next big oil and natural gas play in Texas.

"Like with any growth, there's growing pains," said Dimmit County Commissioner Mike Uriega. "Our infrastructure has been affected; our roads are being torn up."

County roads around Carrizo Springs are now flooded with 18-wheelers, hauling oil and gas out of the area, and more rigs are in the process of going up.

Octavio Rodriguez, who moved to Carrizo Springs to work in the oil fields about 14 months ago, said it looks like the small town couldn't keep up with the pace of the growth.

"Sometimes you get to gas pumps and there's no diesel," said Rodriguez. "You go into the store and it's crowded. People get frustrated and leave."

Experts have said the Eagle Ford appears to be the real deal, which means towns like Carrizo Springs will simply have to adapt and adjust.


Source: KSAT 
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Kinder Morgan, Capano to increase presence in Eagle Ford shale

(Reuters) - Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P. and Copano Energy, L.L.C.'s will provide midstream services to two oil and natural gas explorers via a joint venture, which aims to increase its presence in the Eagle Ford Shale play in south Texas.

The joint venture, Eagle Ford Gathering LLC, will provide transportation, processing and fractionation services of up to 50,000 million British thermal units (MMBtu) per day of natural gas production each to Petrohawk Energy Corp and Rosetta Resources Inc's unit.

Kinder Morgan Energy is a pipeline transportation and energy storage company, and Copano is a natural gas company.

"The joint venture is evaluating projects to expand its ability to handle natural gas from the Eagle Ford Shale play," Duane Kokinda, president of Kinder Morgan's Intrastate Pipeline Group, said.

Both the agreements will have a term of 10 years.

Source: Reuters

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