COUNTIES · EAST TEXAS · DISTRICT 06 · CODE 225
Houston County, Texas
Houston County permitting is running about one permit a month over the trailing 90 days (3 total, versus 7 in the prior quarter).
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 11,019 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.
1,403 drilling permits have been issued in Houston County since 1977.
1,403 permits on file since 1977 · last issued Oct 29, 2026
Email me new permitsAlso: every Houston County well in the statewide list, searchable → · a year of permits on the map →
- 12
- permits issued, 365d
- +200%
- vs prior 365d (4)
- 6
- operators filing
- 0%
- horizontal
- 10,375
- avg permitted depth, ft
- 319
- 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 12 · prior 12 4(+200%)
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 Company2 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 →
| 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 →
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
| 916023Amendment | Oct 28, 2026 | Jun 3, 2026 | Walker Operating Company | Patrick #1 | 1,400 | 22531442 |
| 916023Amendment | Jun 3, 2026 | Jun 3, 2026 | Walker Operating Company | Patrick #1 | 1,400 | 22531442 |
Questions about Houston County
How many drilling permits were issued in Houston County in the last 12 months?
12 permits were issued in Houston County in the last 12 months, up 200% from 4 in the 12 months before. 0% were for horizontal wells. The most recent was issued Oct 29, 2026. 1,403 are on file since 1977.
Every Houston County permit →Who is the most active operator in Houston County?
By drilling permits filed in the last 12 months, Empire Texas Operating LLC is the most active operator in Houston County, with 6 of 12, followed by Walker Operating Company (2) and Parten Operating Inc. (1). 3 operators filed permits here in the last 90 days.
Operators in Houston County →How many oil and gas wells are in Houston County?
1,495 wells are on file in Houston County, including 323 active, 682 plugged, and 4 permitted and not yet drilled. 92 are horizontal. The active wells are under 24 operators.
Every well in Houston County →How much oil and gas does Houston County produce?
The Railroad Commission files oil and gas production by lease, not by well or by county. Each lease with wells in Houston County is listed with its reported production on the county's Leases tab.
Leases in Houston County →How much water is injected in Houston County?
10.1 million barrels of water were injected in Houston County in the 12 months through June 2025, reported on form H-10. 42 of the county's 110 disposal and injection permits are active.
Disposal and injection in Houston County →What formations are drilled in Houston County?
Completion filings for wells in Houston County report tops for 15 formations in at least ten wells each. The most reported are the Woodbine (259 wells, median top 8,192 ft), the Buda (239 wells, median top 9,235 ft), and the Glen Rose (186 wells, median top 10,206 ft).
Formations in Houston County →What basin is Houston County in?
Petrora lists Houston County in the East Texas. It is in the Railroad Commission's District 06.
The East Texas →Have there been earthquakes in Houston County?
No earthquakes of magnitude 2 or more were located in the area of Houston County's permitted wells in the last 2 years.
Earthquakes in Houston 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/houston?days=365, documented in the API reference.