COUNTIES · PERMIAN BASIN · DISTRICT 08 · CODE 135
Ector County, Texas
Ector County permitting is running 22 permits a month over the trailing 90 days (65 total, up 91% on the prior quarter).
Diamondback E&P LLC leads with 62 permits in the past 12 months, one of 18 operators active in the county.
4 operators filed a first Ector County permit in the past year.
Median permitted depth over the past year is 11,400 ft (prior year: 11,900 ft); 92% of the past year's permits are horizontal.
The county has 3,004 active disposal and injection permits, with 262M barrels injected in the 12 months reported through June 2025.
39 earthquakes of magnitude 2 or more were located in the county's permit footprint over the past two years, the largest M3.5.
16,155 drilling permits have been issued in Ector County since 1977.
16,155 permits on file since 1977 · last issued Oct 27, 2026
Watch Ector CountyAlso: every Ector County well in the statewide list, searchable → · a year of permits on the map →
- 65
- permits issued, 90d
- +91%
- vs prior 90d (34)
- 12
- operators filing
- 88%
- horizontal
- 11,003
- avg permitted depth, ft
- 524
- operators, all time
WINDOWS ON THE RRC ISSUE DATE · COMPUTED NOV 7, 2026 · WHY ISSUE AND SEEN DATES DIFFER
Permits issued by month
LAST 120 MONTHS · BY ISSUE DATE
Last 12 months 201 · prior 12 166(+21%)
Top operators, last 12 months
By permits issued. Wells are the operator’s current inventory here from the RRC wellbore file.
| Operator | Permits | Wells |
|---|---|---|
| Diamondback E&P LLC | 62 | 989 |
| Continental Resources, Inc. | 44 | 67 |
| Occidental Permian Ltd. | 24 | 3,338 |
| Ovintiv USA Inc. | 20 | 78 |
| Firebird Energy II LLC | 17 | 9 |
| Arrington Oil&gas Operating LLC | 12 | 1 |
| COG Operating LLC | 4 | 173 |
| Ring Energy, Inc. | 3 | 319 |
| Davis Southern Operating Co LLC | 3 | 5 |
| Laguna Petroleum Corporation | 2 | 126 |
New entrants, last 12 months
Operators whose first permit in Ector County came in the last year. 4 in total.
- Basin Oil & Gas Operating, LLC2 permitsJul 17, 2026 · active elsewhere first
- Atmos Pipeline - Texas1 permitAug 25, 2026 · active elsewhere first
- Phillips 66 Company1 permitApr 15, 2026 · active elsewhere first
- Condor Operating Company, LLC1 permitFeb 18, 2026 · new to Texas permits
Permit types, 90d
| Type | Window | Prior | All time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Drill | 59 | 31 | 12,922 |
| Recompletion | 3 | 2 | 2,468 |
| Reenter | 3 | 0 | 319 |
| Reclass | 0 | 1 | 73 |
Formations in completed wells
RRC WELLBORE FILE · ≥10 WELLS
Tops reported on completion filings for wells in Ector County. A well counts for every formation it reports, so this reads as the county's stratigraphic column. About tops →
Fewer than ten wells in Ector County report the Barnett, so it is below this table's cutoff. Back to the formation →
| Formation | Wells | Permitted last 3 yrs | Median top, ft | P10–P90 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| San Andres | 6,494 | 100 | 4,124 | 3,478–4,790 |
| Grayburg | 5,603 | 80 | 3,960 | 3,620–4,400 |
| Clear Fork | 4,633 | 87 | 5,472 | 5,291–7,177 |
| Yates | 4,546 | 87 | 2,784 | 2,280–3,060 |
| Queen | 2,855 | 69 | 3,611 | 3,115–4,220 |
| Glorieta | 2,777 | 68 | 5,128 | 4,528–5,900 |
| Rustler | 1,973 | 19 | 1,520 | 1,016–1,813 |
| Tubb | 1,780 | 18 | 5,962 | 5,792–6,154 |
| Seven Rivers | 1,503 | 58 | 3,018 | 2,696–3,970 |
| Holt | 1,375 | 27 | 5,000 | 4,778–5,249 |
| Wolfcamp | 1,269 | 17 | 9,119 | 7,697–9,491 |
| Spraberry | 1,049 | 26 | 7,932 | 6,494–8,273 |
| Santa Rosa | 856 | 41 | 1,264 | 779–1,542 |
| Strawn | 743 | 1 | 10,230 | 9,879–10,572 |
| Wichita-Albany | 577 | 7 | 6,512 | 6,298–6,818 |
Beyond the permit record
RRC UIC permits · H-10 reported volumes
Disposal and injection
- 3,004
- active UIC permits of 6,464
- 8.84M
- permitted bbl/day, active
- 262M
- bbl injected, last 12 reported months
- Jun 2025
- reported through
Every active well, operator, and daily reporter in Ector County →
Permitted volume is a ceiling, not throughput. How to read it →
USGS catalog, Texas
Seismicity, last 2 years
- 39
- M2+ events in the area
- M3.5
- 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 919539 | Oct 29, 2026 | Oct 27, 2026 | Admiral Permian Operating LLC | Shrimp Boat C #3BH | 12,000 | 13544338 |
| 919209 | Oct 23, 2026 | Oct 21, 2026 | Basin Oil & Gas Operating, LLC | Johnson, J. L. 'AB' #147 | 4,456 | 13534065 |
| 919191 | Oct 16, 2026 | Oct 14, 2026 | Enterprise Products Operatingllc | Wireline Road #1 | 490 | 13544337 |
| 919140 | Nov 7, 2026 | Oct 12, 2026 | Ovintiv USA Inc. | Buzz Hurt 36G #101HDH | 10,500 | 13544327 |
| 919147 | Nov 4, 2026 | Oct 12, 2026 | Ovintiv USA Inc. | Buzz Hurt 36A #104HDH | 10,500 | 13544330 |
| 919149 | Nov 1, 2026 | Oct 12, 2026 | Ovintiv USA Inc. | Buzz Hurt 36F #106HDH | 10,500 | 13544331 |
| 919150 | Nov 1, 2026 | Oct 12, 2026 | Ovintiv USA Inc. | Buzz Hurt 36F #105HGH | 10,500 | 13544332 |
| 919141 | Oct 31, 2026 | Oct 12, 2026 | Ovintiv USA Inc. | Buzz Hurt 36X #102HDH | 10,500 | 13544328 |
| 919144 | Oct 31, 2026 | Oct 12, 2026 | Ovintiv USA Inc. | Buzz Hurt 36A #103HFH | 10,500 | 13544329 |
| 919144 | Oct 14, 2026 | Oct 12, 2026 | Ovintiv USA Inc. | Buzz Hurt 36X #103HDH | 10,500 | 13544329 |
Questions about Ector County
How many drilling permits were issued in Ector County in the last 12 months?
201 permits were issued in Ector County in the last 12 months, up 14% from 176 in the 12 months before. 92% were for horizontal wells. The most recent was issued Oct 27, 2026. 16,155 are on file since 1977.
Every Ector County permit →Who is the most active operator in Ector County?
By drilling permits filed in the last 12 months, Diamondback E&P LLC is the most active operator in Ector County, with 62 of 201, followed by Continental Resources, Inc. (44) and Occidental Permian Ltd. (24). 12 operators filed permits here in the last 90 days.
Operators in Ector County →How many oil and gas wells are in Ector County?
22,878 wells are on file in Ector County, including 7,389 active, 8,177 plugged, and 133 permitted and not yet drilled. 792 are horizontal. The active wells are under 118 operators.
Every well in Ector County →How much oil and gas does Ector County produce?
The Railroad Commission files oil and gas production by lease, not by well or by county. Each lease with wells in Ector County is listed with its reported production on the county's Leases tab.
Leases in Ector County →How much water is injected in Ector County?
262 million barrels of water were injected in Ector County in the 12 months through June 2025, reported on form H-10. 3,004 of the county's 6,464 disposal and injection permits are active.
Disposal and injection in Ector County →What formations are drilled in Ector County?
Completion filings for wells in Ector County report tops for 15 formations in at least ten wells each. The most reported are the San Andres (6,494 wells, median top 4,124 ft), the Grayburg (5,603 wells, median top 3,960 ft), and the Clear Fork (4,633 wells, median top 5,472 ft).
Formations in Ector County →What basin is Ector County in?
Petrora lists Ector County in the Permian Basin. It is in the Railroad Commission's District 08.
The Permian Basin →Have there been earthquakes in Ector County?
39 earthquakes of magnitude 2 or more were located in the area of Ector County's permitted wells in the last 2 years; the largest was M3.5.
Earthquakes in Ector 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/ector?days=90, documented in the API reference.