Texas Drilling Permits and Completions Statistics for January 2020

AUSTIN ––The Railroad Commission of Texas issued a total of 1,133 original drilling permits in January 2020 compared 1,199 in January 2019. The January 2020 total included 1,041 permits to drill new oil or gas wells, eight to re-enter plugged well bores and 84 for re-completions of existing well bores. The breakdown of well types for those permits is 310 oil, 61 gas, 751 oil or gas, 33 injection, zero service and one other permit.

In January 2020, Commission staff processed 927 oil, 222 gas and 157 injection completions compared to 793 oil, 252 gas, 150 injection completions in January 2019. Total well completions processed for 2020 year to date are 1,306; up from 1,195 recorded during the same time period in 2019.

Recent Information Technology changes are allowing the Commission to report more detailed data on drilling permits and well completions each month. 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 – January 2020 TEXAS OIL AND GAS NEW DRILLING PERMITS AND COMPLETIONS BY RAILROAD COMMISSION OF TEXAS DISTRICT*

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