COUNTIES · BARNETT SHALE AND NORTH TEXAS · DISTRICT 09 · CODE 121
Denton County, Texas
Denton County permitting is running 2.0 permits a month over the trailing 90 days (6 total, versus 4 in the prior quarter).
BKV Barnett, LLC leads with 12 permits in the past 12 months, one of 2 operators active in the county.
Median permitted depth over the past year is 12,641 ft (prior year: 14,580 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 →
- 10
- permits issued, 180d
- +150%
- vs prior 180d (4)
- 1
- operators filing
- 100%
- horizontal
- 11,137
- avg permitted depth, ft
- 191
- operators, all time
WINDOWS ON THE RRC ISSUE DATE · COMPUTED NOV 5, 2026 · WHY ISSUE AND SEEN DATES DIFFER
Permits issued by month
LAST 120 MONTHS · BY ISSUE DATE
Last 12 months 14 · prior 12 20(-30%)
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 | 12 | 1,542 |
| BKV Barnett II, LLC | 2 | 232 |
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 →
| 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 | 1,441 | 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 |
Questions about Denton County
How many drilling permits were issued in Denton County in the last 12 months?
16 permits were issued in Denton County in the last 12 months, down 11% from 18 in the 12 months before. 100% were for horizontal wells. The most recent was issued Oct 27, 2026. 5,373 are on file since 1977.
Every Denton County permit →Who is the most active operator in Denton County?
By drilling permits filed in the last 12 months, BKV Barnett, LLC is the most active operator in Denton County, with 12 of 16, followed by BKV Barnett II, LLC (2). 1 operator filed permits here in the last 90 days.
Operators in Denton County →How many oil and gas wells are in Denton County?
4,594 wells are on file in Denton County: 2,493 active, 970 plugged, and 4 permitted and not yet drilled. 1,636 are horizontal, and 36 operators hold them.
Every well in Denton County →How much oil and gas does Denton County produce?
The Railroad Commission files oil and gas production by lease, not by well or by county. Each lease with wells in Denton County is listed with its reported production on the county's Leases tab.
Leases in Denton County →How much water is injected in Denton County?
5.0 million barrels of water were injected in Denton County in the 12 months through June 2025, reported on form H-10. 13 of the county's 47 disposal and injection permits are active.
Disposal and injection in Denton County →What formations are drilled in Denton County?
Completion filings for wells in Denton County report tops for 11 formations in at least ten wells each. The most reported are the Barnett (3,091 wells, median top 7,607 ft), the Marble Falls (2,348 wells, median top 7,230 ft), and the Caddo (1,441 wells, median top 4,601 ft).
Formations in Denton County →What basin is Denton County in?
Petrora lists Denton County in the Barnett Shale and North Texas. It is in the Railroad Commission's District 09.
The Barnett Shale and North Texas →Have there been earthquakes in Denton County?
TexNet located no earthquakes of magnitude 2 or more in the area of Denton County's permitted wells in the last 2 years.
Earthquakes in Denton County →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=180, documented in the API reference.