Texas Drilling Permits and Completions Statistics for July 2020

August 07, 2020

AUSTIN –– The Railroad Commission of Texas issued a total of 351 original drilling permits in July 2020 compared to 912 in July 2019. The July 2020 total includes 286 permits to drill new oil or gas wells, six to re-enter plugged well bores and 40 for re-completions of existing well bores.

The breakdown of well types for original drilling permits in July 2020 is 70 oil, 27 gas, 232 oil or gas, 9 injection, and 13 other permits.

In July 2020, Commission staff processed 1,125 oil, 211 gas and 367 injection completions for new drills, re-entries and re-completions, compared to 499 oil, 156 gas, and 44 injection completions in July 2019.

Total well completions processed for 2020 year to date for new drills, re-entries and re-completions are 9,510 compared to 5,749 recorded during the same period in 2019.

Recent Information Technology changes are allowing the Commission to report more detailed data on drilling permits and well completions each month. The information in prior year reports may not correlate exactly to the same results on the new report. These technological improvements provide more statistics and transparency, and the new report is available on the Commission’s monthly drilling completion summaries web page

 

TABLE 1 – JUly 2020 TEXAS OIL AND GAS New DRILLING PERMITS AND COMPLETIONS BY RAILROAD COMMISSION OF TEXAS DISTRICT*

DISTRICT

PERMITS TO DRILL NEW OIL/GAS HOLES

NEW OIL COMPLETIONS

NEW GAS COMPLETIONS

(1) SAN ANTONIO AREA

14

110

28

(2) REFUGIO AREA

9

60

21

(3) SOUTHEAST TEXAS

10

37

6

(4) DEEP SOUTH TEXAS

0

1

6

(5) EAST CENTRAL TX

1

4

2

(6) EAST TEXAS

16

6

25

(7B) WEST CENTRAL TX

18

13

0

(7C) SAN ANGELO AREA

26

81

1

(8) MIDLAND

169

683

81

(8A) LUBBOCK AREA

10

36

0

(9) NORTH TEXAS

13

3

5

(10) PANHANDLE

0

2

3

TOTAL

286

1,036

178

* A district map is available on the Railroad Commission of Texas here.


About the Railroad Commission:
Our mission is to serve Texas by our stewardship of natural resources and the environment, our concern for personal and community safety, and our support of enhanced development and economic vitality for the benefit of Texans. The Commission has a long and proud history of service to both Texas and to the nation, including almost 100 years regulating the oil and gas industry. The Commission also has jurisdiction over alternative fuels safety, natural gas utilities, surface mining and intrastate pipelines. Established in 1891, the Railroad Commission of Texas is the oldest regulatory agency in the state. To learn more, please visit https://www.rrc.texas.gov/about-us/.