SAN ANTONIO—Boosted activity in the Eagle Ford has put the play in line with the Permian as far as popularity goes, according to SunTrust Robinson Humphrey’s managing director of E&P research.

At Hart Energy’s recent DUG Eagle Ford Conference & Exhibition, Neal Dingmann shared how geology, the presence of certain producers, economic moves and enhanced drilling and completions have driven the acreage value of the Eagle Ford.

Though he said determining an acre’s worth was a “tough decision because it’s so rapidly changing,” he named the Eagle Ford’s unique geology as a primary factor he considered.

According to Dingmann, the Eagle Ford’s distinct oil, dry gas/wet gas and condensate windows along with depth difference “play into economics, especially as service costs start to firm up now,” so he pays close attention to those factors.

“The thickness and the well density [of the Eagle Ford], I think it’s very interesting, not only up the Karnes Trough area, but exclusively how much the western Eagle Ford is coming on when you think about thickness,” Dingmann said.

As more wells are being drilled in the play, Dingmann said SunTrust uses that collective data to come up with type curves that aids in how they decide an acre’s worth.

“But again, it’s difficult just based on how quickly a lot of the well dynamics are changing,” he warned.

Prevalent producers within the Eagle Ford such as Sanchez Energy Corp. (NYSE: SN), Chesapeake Energy Corp. (NYSE: CHK) and Pioneer Natural Resources (NYSE: PXD) are solidifying the play’s merger and acquisition (M&A) environment, according to Dingmann.

“Sanchez, like some others, has been very active in the play. I think we’re going to see [a few] major deals happen in the Eagle Ford, if not by the end of the year [then] maybe early next year,” he said.

In March 2017, Sanchez paid $1.15 billion to Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: APC) for its Eagle Ford assets that included 77,500 acres and 33,500 barrels of oil equivalent (boe) per day—broken down at $1,871 per barrel and $30,000 per flowing boe—according to SunTrust’s M&A transaction data.

But, based on SunTrust’s basin M&A transaction value comparison (year-to-date), the Permian is still the hottest out there with a transaction value of $22,802.79 while SunTrust research puts the Eagle Ford at a valuation of $4,741.36.

“But given how busy Sanchez and a lot of these others have been in the Eagle Ford, from what I’ve seen for the end of the year, I think you can [expect] much more coming in the Eagle Ford, so that is something to stay tuned for,” Dingmann said.

He continued to stress that the Eagle Ford’s activity may not be as blistering as the Permian’s M&A activity, but he think it is worth noting as “a very close second.”

While touching on drilling and completion (D&C) advancements he pointed out that inventiveness in the Eagle Ford, as in the Permian, has helped drive the economics behind acreage.

For instance, he said Pioneer’s efficiencies in the play including longer laterals, wider spacing, tighter clusters and “just how much they’ve increased a lot of their services that they go after,” have made a huge difference, “same with Chesapeake.”

Honing in on the total coverage, Dingmann said that the two metrics he follows intently when determining an acre’s worth is EBITDA and the enterprise value of a flowing barrel.

“I’m looking at kind of the typical spacing, royalty, wells per section and the well cost; I sort of plug in all those things and then I look at the amount of data for the wells that come in for each county.”

With the activity in the Eagle Ford driving its worth, it is hot on the Permian’s tail to becoming the next big play.

“Bottom line I think there is a lot of value to be had in the Eagle Ford.”