COUNTIES · EAST TEXAS · DISTRICT 06 · CODE 225
Houston County
Houston County permitting is running 1.7 permits a month over the trailing 90 days (5 total, versus 6 in the prior quarter). 1 was issued in the past week.
Empire Texas Operating LLC leads with 6 permits in the past 12 months, one of 6 operators active in the county.
4 operators filed a first Houston County permit in the past year.
Median permitted depth over the past year is 10,788 ft (prior year: 10,682 ft); 0% of the past year's permits are horizontal.
The county has 42 active disposal and injection permits, with 10.1M barrels injected in the 12 months reported through June 2025.
1,659 drilling permits have been issued in Houston County since 1977.
1,659 permits on file since 1977 · last issued Oct 27, 2026
Watch Houston CountyAlso: every Houston County well in the statewide list, searchable → · a year of permits on the map →
- 5
- permits issued, 90d
- -17%
- vs prior 90d (6)
- 2
- operators filing
- 0%
- horizontal
- 12,763
- avg permitted depth, ft
- 323
- operators, all time
WINDOWS ON THE RRC ISSUE DATE · COMPUTED OCT 29, 2026 · WHY ISSUE AND SEEN DATES DIFFER
Permits issued by month
LAST 50 MONTHS · BY ISSUE DATE
Last 12 months 19 · prior 12 21(-10%)
Top operators, last 12 months
By permits issued. Wells are the operator’s current inventory here from the RRC wellbore file.
New entrants, last 12 months
Operators whose first permit in Houston County came in the last year. 4 in total.
- Empire Texas Operating LLC6 permitsMay 29, 2026 · active elsewhere first
- Walker Operating Company4 permitsJun 3, 2026 · active elsewhere first
- TGB Equipment Leasing, LLC1 permitOct 27, 2026 · active elsewhere first
- BKV Dcarbon Ventures, LLC1 permitApr 21, 2026 · active elsewhere first
Formations in completed wells
RRC WELLBORE FILE · ≥10 WELLS
Tops reported on completion filings for wells in Houston 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 Houston County report the Bma, so it is below this table's cutoff. Back to the formation →
| Formation | Wells | Permitted last 3 yrs | Median top, ft | P10–P90 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Woodbine | 259 | 3 | 8,192 | 5,795–9,180 |
| Buda | 239 | 8 | 9,235 | 8,267–10,149 |
| Glen Rose | 186 | 6 | 10,206 | 8,188–11,246 |
| Edwards | 173 | 6 | 9,950 | 9,194–10,749 |
| Austin Chalk | 171 | 2 | 7,516 | 5,300–8,626 |
| Wilcox | 146 | 3 | 1,604 | 1,518–2,722 |
| Carrizo | 139 | 0 | 1,545 | 1,512–1,916 |
| Georgetown | 136 | 6 | 9,381 | 8,855–10,302 |
| Sub-Clarksville | 125 | 1 | 8,388 | 6,096–9,212 |
| Queen City | 122 | 0 | 1,260 | 1,205–1,653 |
| Pettit | 60 | 0 | 10,260 | 9,901–11,022 |
| James Lime | 57 | 0 | 10,012 | 9,740–12,135 |
| Pecan Gap | 48 | 1 | 4,438 | 4,204–7,086 |
| Sparta | 45 | 0 | 1,300 | 824–1,462 |
| Rodessa | 35 | 0 | 9,423 | 9,264–10,894 |
Beyond the permit record
RRC UIC permits · H-10 reported volumes
Disposal and injection
- 42
- active UIC permits of 110
- 178K
- permitted bbl/day, active
- 10.1M
- bbl injected, last 12 reported months
- Jun 2025
- reported through
Every active well, operator, and daily reporter in Houston 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 919714 | Oct 31, 2026 | Oct 29, 2026 | Walker Operating Company | Patrick #2 | 1,400 | 22531443 |
| 919656 | Oct 29, 2026 | Oct 27, 2026 | TGB Equipment Leasing, LLC | George 556 SWD #1 | 7,000 | 22531444 |
| 918740 | Sep 23, 2026 | Sep 21, 2026 | Empire Texas Operating LLC | Shelly #2 | 23,000 | 22531139 |
| 917343 | Aug 3, 2026 | Aug 3, 2026 | Empire Texas Operating LLC | FT Trinidad Upper Glen Rose Unit #481 | 10,788 | 22531348 |
| 917346 | Aug 3, 2026 | Aug 3, 2026 | Empire Texas Operating LLC | FT Trinidad Upper Glen Rose Unit #173 | 11,500 | 22531245 |
| 917358 | Jul 31, 2026 | Jul 31, 2026 | Empire Texas Operating LLC | Shelly D #1 | 11,528 | 22531063 |
| 916528 | Jun 22, 2026 | Jun 22, 2026 | Empire Texas Operating LLC | Butler-Maples D Unit #101 | 18,000 | 22531336 |
| 915460 | Jun 19, 2026 | Jun 19, 2026 | Parten Operating Inc. | T.A. Little #1 | 11,638 | 22530820 |
| 916023 | Oct 28, 2026 | Jun 3, 2026 | Walker Operating Company | Patrick #1 | 1,400 | 22531442 |
| 916023 | Jun 3, 2026 | Jun 3, 2026 | Walker Operating Company | Patrick #1 | 1,400 | 22531442 |
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/houston?days=90, documented in the API reference.