COUNTIES · TEXAS GULF COAST · DISTRICT 04 · CODE 215
Hidalgo County, Texas
Hidalgo County permitting is running 0.3 permits a month over the trailing 90 days (1 total, versus 1 in the prior quarter).
Merit Energy Company leads with 1 permit in the past 12 months, one of 2 operators active in the county.
Median permitted depth over the past year is 14,025 ft (prior year: 11,300 ft); 0% of the past year's permits are horizontal.
The county has 47 active disposal and injection permits, with 4.03M barrels injected in the 12 months reported through June 2025.
5,692 drilling permits have been issued in Hidalgo County since 1977.
5,692 permits on file since 1977 · last issued Sep 3, 2026
Email me new permitsAlso: every Hidalgo County well in the statewide list, searchable → · a year of permits on the map →
- 1
- permits issued, 90d
- +0%
- vs prior 90d (1)
- 1
- operators filing
- 0%
- horizontal
- 13,650
- avg permitted depth, ft
- 461
- operators, all time
WINDOWS ON THE RRC ISSUE DATE · COMPUTED NOV 8, 2026 · WHY ISSUE AND SEEN DATES DIFFER
Permits issued by month
LAST 120 MONTHS · BY ISSUE DATE
Last 12 months 2 · prior 12 3(-33%)
Top operators, last 12 months
By permits issued. Wells are the operator’s current inventory here from the RRC wellbore file.
| Operator | Permits | Wells |
|---|---|---|
| Merit Energy Company | 1 | 1,009 |
| Royal Production Company, Inc. | 1 | 11 |
New entrants, last 12 months
Operators whose first permit in Hidalgo County came in the last year. None.
Formations in completed wells
RRC WELLBORE FILE · ≥10 WELLS
Tops reported on completion filings for wells in Hidalgo County. A well counts for every formation it reports, so this reads as the county's stratigraphic column. About tops →
In Hidalgo County the Jackson is reported in 28 wells, median top 11,800 ft, highlighted below. Back to the formation →
| Formation | Wells | Permitted last 3 yrs | Median top, ft | P10–P90 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vicksburg | 877 | 2 | 9,144 | 6,786–12,256 |
| Frio | 623 | 0 | 5,900 | 3,637–8,314 |
| Catahoula | 74 | 0 | 4,206 | 740–6,033 |
| Miocene (undifferentiated) | 71 | 0 | 2,203 | 990–5,000 |
| Jackson | 28 | 0 | 11,800 | 11,273–15,720 |
Beyond the permit record
RRC UIC permits · H-10 reported volumes
Disposal and injection
- 47
- active UIC permits of 183
- 228K
- permitted bbl/day, active
- 4.03M
- bbl injected, last 12 reported months
- Jun 2025
- reported through
Every active well, operator, and daily reporter in Hidalgo County →
Permitted volume is a ceiling, not throughput. How to read it →
USGS catalog, Texas
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 918203Amendment | Oct 24, 2026 | Sep 3, 2026 | Royal Production Company, Inc. | Edinburg Unit #10 | 13,650 | 21531846 |
| 918203 | Sep 5, 2026 | Sep 3, 2026 | Royal Production Company, Inc. | Edinburg Unit #10 | 10,650 | 21531846 |
| 916390 | Jun 29, 2026 | Jun 29, 2026 | Merit Energy Company | McAllen, A. A. #109 | 14,400 | 21532844 |
| 909254 | Jul 16, 2025 | Jul 16, 2025 | Midas Resources, Inc. | Mary Bell Doffing Gas Unit #2 | 10,300 | 21534171 |
| 908132 | Jun 5, 2025 | Jun 5, 2025 | Royal Production Company, Inc. | Edinburg Unit #7 | 12,416 | 21534144 |
| 904887 | Dec 31, 2024 | Dec 31, 2024 | Royal Production Company, Inc. | Edinburg Gas Unit #12 | 11,300 | 21533271 |
| 896922 | Apr 15, 2024 | Apr 15, 2024 | Merit Energy Company | Woods Christian #42 | 10,530 | 21532952 |
| 897120 | Feb 26, 2024 | Feb 26, 2024 | Merit Energy Company | Woods Christian #34 | 11,150 | 21531822 |
| 896969 | Feb 8, 2024 | Feb 8, 2024 | Merit Energy Company | Woods Christian #44 | 11,415 | 21533148 |
| 896781 | Feb 5, 2024 | Feb 5, 2024 | Merit Energy Company | Woods Christian #30 | 11,130 | 21531777 |
Questions about Hidalgo County
How many drilling permits were issued in Hidalgo County in the last 12 months?
2 permits were issued in Hidalgo County in the last 12 months, down 33% from 3 in the 12 months before. 0% were for horizontal wells. The most recent was issued Sep 3, 2026. 5,692 are on file since 1977.
Every Hidalgo County permit →Who is the most active operator in Hidalgo County?
By drilling permits filed in the last 12 months, Merit Energy Company is the most active operator in Hidalgo County, with 1 of 2, followed by Royal Production Company, Inc. (1). 1 operator filed permits here in the last 90 days.
Operators in Hidalgo County →How many oil and gas wells are in Hidalgo County?
4,670 wells are on file in Hidalgo County, including 1,152 active, 2,054 plugged, and 2 permitted and not yet drilled. 5 are horizontal. The active wells are under 40 operators.
Every well in Hidalgo County →How much oil and gas does Hidalgo County produce?
The Railroad Commission files oil and gas production by lease, not by well or by county. Each lease with wells in Hidalgo County is listed with its reported production on the county's Leases tab.
Leases in Hidalgo County →How much water is injected in Hidalgo County?
4.0 million barrels of water were injected in Hidalgo County in the 12 months through June 2025, reported on form H-10. 47 of the county's 183 disposal and injection permits are active.
Disposal and injection in Hidalgo County →What formations are drilled in Hidalgo County?
Completion filings for wells in Hidalgo County report tops for 5 formations in at least ten wells each. The most reported are the Vicksburg (877 wells, median top 9,144 ft), the Frio (623 wells, median top 5,900 ft), and the Catahoula (74 wells, median top 4,206 ft).
Formations in Hidalgo County →What basin is Hidalgo County in?
Petrora lists Hidalgo County in the Texas Gulf Coast. It is in the Railroad Commission's District 04.
The Texas Gulf Coast →Have there been earthquakes in Hidalgo County?
No earthquakes of magnitude 2 or more were located in the area of Hidalgo County's permitted wells in the last 2 years.
Earthquakes in Hidalgo 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/hidalgo?days=90, documented in the API reference.