COUNTIES · BARNETT SHALE AND NORTH TEXAS · DISTRICT 09 · CODE 121
Denton County
Denton County permitting is running 2.7 permits a month over the trailing 90 days (8 total, versus 2 in the prior quarter). 1 was issued in the past week.
BKV Barnett, LLC leads with 17 permits in the past 12 months, one of 2 operators active in the county.
Median permitted depth over the past year is 13,123 ft (prior year: 11,801 ft); 100% of the past year's permits are horizontal.
The county has 13 active disposal and injection permits, with 5.03M barrels injected in the 12 months reported through June 2025.
5,373 drilling permits have been issued in Denton County since 1977.
5,373 permits on file since 1977 · last issued Oct 27, 2026
Watch Denton CountyAlso: every Denton County well in the statewide list, searchable → · a year of permits on the map →
- 8
- permits issued, 90d
- +300%
- vs prior 90d (2)
- 1
- operators filing
- 100%
- horizontal
- 11,096
- avg permitted depth, ft
- 191
- operators, all time
WINDOWS ON THE RRC ISSUE DATE · COMPUTED OCT 29, 2026 · WHY ISSUE AND SEEN DATES DIFFER
Permits issued by month
LAST 51 MONTHS · BY ISSUE DATE
Last 12 months 43 · prior 12 45(-4%)
Top operators, last 12 months
By permits issued. Wells are the operator’s current inventory here from the RRC wellbore file.
| Operator | Permits | Wells |
|---|---|---|
| BKV Barnett, LLC | 17 | 1,503 |
| BKV Barnett II, LLC | 2 | 228 |
New entrants, last 12 months
Operators whose first permit in Denton County came in the last year. None.
Formations in completed wells
RRC WELLBORE FILE · ≥10 WELLS
Tops reported on completion filings for wells in Denton County. A well counts for every formation it reports, so this reads as the county's stratigraphic column. About tops →
In Denton County the Ellenburger is reported in 15 wells, median top 8,580 ft, highlighted below. Back to the formation →
| Formation | Wells | Permitted last 3 yrs | Median top, ft | P10–P90 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Barnett | 3,091 | 32 | 7,607 | 7,192–8,007 |
| Marble Falls | 2,348 | 30 | 7,230 | 6,832–7,631 |
| Caddo | 1,440 | 27 | 4,601 | 3,697–5,529 |
| Viola | 1,011 | 0 | 8,570 | 7,813–8,976 |
| Forestburg | 953 | 4 | 7,795 | 7,346–8,198 |
| Atoka | 452 | 3 | 5,560 | 4,021–6,460 |
| Strawn | 222 | 0 | 3,384 | 1,630–4,884 |
| Bend | 110 | 0 | 6,422 | 6,088–6,567 |
| Base Cretaceous (marker) | 46 | 0 | 1,350 | 1,005–1,600 |
| Mississippian | 27 | 0 | 7,751 | 7,249–8,092 |
| Ellenburger | 15 | 0 | 8,580 | 5,030–8,995 |
Beyond the permit record
RRC UIC permits · H-10 reported volumes
Disposal and injection
- 13
- active UIC permits of 47
- 40.4K
- permitted bbl/day, active
- 5.03M
- bbl injected, last 12 reported months
- Jun 2025
- reported through
Every active well, operator, and daily reporter in Denton County →
Permitted volume is a ceiling, not throughput. How to read it →
TexNet catalog via USGS
Seismicity, last 2 years
- 0
- M2+ events in the area
- —
- largest
Monthly counts, magnitudes, and every recent event in the area →
Events are not tagged with a county; this counts M2+ events inside the bounding box of the county’s located permits, padded 0.1°. About TexNet →
Latest permits
NEWEST FIRST BY ISSUE DATE
| Permit | Seen | Issued | Operator | Lease / well | Depth | API |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 919522 | Oct 29, 2026 | Oct 27, 2026 | BKV Barnett, LLC | JE Day Heirs 3 (AW) #3HH | 5,976 | 12134617 |
| 919210 | Oct 16, 2026 | Oct 14, 2026 | BKV Barnett, LLC | Biltmore 4 (AW) #4HH | 12,182 | 12132379 |
| 919080 | Oct 15, 2026 | Oct 13, 2026 | BKV Barnett, LLC | Day Heirs J E 6 (AW) #6HH | 14,055 | 12134667 |
| 919079 | Oct 15, 2026 | Oct 13, 2026 | BKV Barnett, LLC | Day Heirs J E 5 (AW) #5HH | 13,123 | 12134666 |
| 919078 | Oct 15, 2026 | Oct 13, 2026 | BKV Barnett, LLC | Day Heirs J E 4 (AW) #4HH | 15,900 | 12134665 |
| 918558 | Sep 20, 2026 | Sep 18, 2026 | BKV Barnett, LLC | Adams-Day Heirs (SA) #1HH | 8,500 | 12133869 |
| 917578 | Aug 8, 2026 | Aug 6, 2026 | BKV Barnett, LLC | Hardeman, Dorothy Jean 11 (AW) #11HH | 8,500 | 12134664 |
| 917487 | Aug 6, 2026 | Aug 4, 2026 | BKV Barnett, LLC | Dcco 2 - Dcco 4 (SA) #1HH | 10,535 | 12133120 |
| 916437 | Jun 16, 2026 | Jun 16, 2026 | BKV Barnett, LLC | Hardeman, Dorothy Jean 10 (AW) #10HH | 13,100 | 12134663 |
| 916435 | Jun 16, 2026 | Jun 16, 2026 | BKV Barnett, LLC | Adams, Corinne 8 (AW) #8HH | 9,500 | 12132214 |
About this data
Drilling permits from the RRC OGA049M master and daily daf420 files, rebuilt nightly into per-county figures; windows are on the date issued. Disposal from UIC permits and H-10 reports at the last settled month; earthquakes from the TexNet catalog inside the county's located-permit footprint.
Developers: this page as JSON is GET /v1/data/counties/tx/denton?days=90, documented in the API reference.