COUNTIES · PERMIAN BASIN · DISTRICT 08 · CODE 227
Howard County, Texas
Howard County permitting is running 11 permits a month over the trailing 90 days (33 total, up 32% on the prior quarter).
Surge Operating, LLC leads with 34 permits in the past 12 months, one of 16 operators active in the county.
3 operators filed a first Howard County permit in the past year.
Median permitted depth over the past year is 9,500 ft (prior year: 9,000 ft); 91% of the past year's permits are horizontal.
The county has 1,165 active disposal and injection permits, with 489M barrels injected in the 12 months reported through June 2025.
136 earthquakes of magnitude 2 or more were located in the county's permit footprint over the past two years, the largest M4.3.
12,711 drilling permits have been issued in Howard County since 1977.
12,711 permits on file since 1977 · last issued Oct 30, 2026
Watch Howard CountyAlso: every Howard County well in the statewide list, searchable → · a year of permits on the map →
- 33
- permits issued, 90d
- +32%
- vs prior 90d (25)
- 6
- operators filing
- 85%
- horizontal
- 9,631
- avg permitted depth, ft
- 711
- 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 154 · prior 12 166(-7%)
Top operators, last 12 months
By permits issued. Wells are the operator’s current inventory here from the RRC wellbore file.
| Operator | Permits | Wells |
|---|---|---|
| Surge Operating, LLC | 34 | 842 |
| Diamondback E&P LLC | 32 | 412 |
| Highpeak Energy Holdings, LLC | 17 | 600 |
| Oxyrock Operating, LLC | 15 | 618 |
| SM Energy Company | 14 | 465 |
| Apache Corporation | 13 | 589 |
| Ovintiv USA Inc. | 12 | 498 |
| Bayswater Operating Company LLC | 7 | 190 |
| Langford & Brigham Operating LLC | 7 | 44 |
| OXY USA Inc. | 3 | 256 |
New entrants, last 12 months
Operators whose first permit in Howard County came in the last year. 3 in total.
- Outlaw Water Services LLC2 permitsApr 21, 2026 · new to Texas permits
- Trek Resources, Inc.2 permitsMar 3, 2026 · active elsewhere first
- R.D.S. Ranch-Water SVS, Inc.1 permitSep 3, 2026 · active elsewhere first
Permit types, 90d
| Type | Window | Prior | All time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Drill | 30 | 25 | 11,287 |
| Recompletion | 2 | 0 | 939 |
| Reenter | 1 | 0 | 314 |
Formations in completed wells
RRC WELLBORE FILE · ≥10 WELLS
Tops reported on completion filings for wells in Howard County. A well counts for every formation it reports, so this reads as the county's stratigraphic column. About tops →
In Howard County the Queen is reported in 1,231 wells, median top 1,687 ft, highlighted below. Back to the formation →
| Formation | Wells | Permitted last 3 yrs | Median top, ft | P10–P90 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| San Andres | 6,371 | 428 | 3,090 | 2,018–3,566 |
| Clear Fork | 5,317 | 428 | 4,570 | 2,892–5,567 |
| Spraberry | 5,297 | 420 | 6,279 | 5,101–6,713 |
| Yates | 5,204 | 421 | 1,771 | 1,210–1,996 |
| Glorieta | 4,180 | 296 | 3,904 | 2,522–4,446 |
| Seven Rivers | 3,694 | 221 | 1,814 | 1,255–2,119 |
| Dean | 3,171 | 220 | 7,420 | 6,328–7,900 |
| Wolfcamp | 2,625 | 13 | 7,556 | 6,534–8,077 |
| Rustler | 1,792 | 392 | 1,194 | 906–1,425 |
| Leonard | 1,716 | 157 | 6,593 | 5,236–7,508 |
| Queen | 1,231 | 14 | 1,687 | 1,400–2,410 |
| Grayburg | 1,022 | 34 | 2,012 | 1,654–3,017 |
| Strawn | 1,019 | 1 | 9,421 | 8,833–9,698 |
| Mississippian | 793 | 0 | 9,800 | 9,252–10,106 |
| Santa Rosa | 779 | 92 | 747 | 400–1,000 |
Beyond the permit record
RRC UIC permits · H-10 reported volumes
Disposal and injection
- 1,165
- active UIC permits of 3,039
- 5.82M
- permitted bbl/day, active
- 489M
- bbl injected, last 12 reported months
- Jun 2025
- reported through
Every active well, operator, and daily reporter in Howard County →
Permitted volume is a ceiling, not throughput. How to read it →
USGS catalog, Texas
Seismicity, last 2 years
- 136
- M2+ events in the area
- M4.3
- 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 919415 | Nov 1, 2026 | Oct 30, 2026 | Enterprise Products Operatingllc | Wildcat #1 | 380 | 22742941 |
| 919676 | Oct 28, 2026 | Oct 26, 2026 | Highpeak Energy Holdings, LLC | Willis Winters #1 | 7,536 | 22702549 |
| 919361 | Oct 22, 2026 | Oct 20, 2026 | Oxyrock Operating, LLC | Bluestem G #11DNH | 12,000 | 22742940 |
| 919359 | Oct 22, 2026 | Oct 20, 2026 | Oxyrock Operating, LLC | Bluestem F #10HAH | 12,000 | 22742939 |
| 919357 | Oct 22, 2026 | Oct 20, 2026 | Oxyrock Operating, LLC | Bluestem F #9LLH | 12,000 | 22742938 |
| 919356 | Oct 22, 2026 | Oct 20, 2026 | Oxyrock Operating, LLC | Bluestem F #8DNH | 12,000 | 22742937 |
| 919355 | Oct 22, 2026 | Oct 20, 2026 | Oxyrock Operating, LLC | Bluestem F #7JMH | 12,000 | 22742936 |
| 919354 | Oct 22, 2026 | Oct 20, 2026 | Oxyrock Operating, LLC | Bluestem E #6LLH | 12,000 | 22742935 |
| 919353 | Oct 22, 2026 | Oct 20, 2026 | Oxyrock Operating, LLC | Bluestem E #5HAH | 12,000 | 22742934 |
| 919352 | Oct 22, 2026 | Oct 20, 2026 | Oxyrock Operating, LLC | Bluestem E #4DNH | 12,000 | 22742933 |
Questions about Howard County
How many drilling permits were issued in Howard County in the last 12 months?
163 permits were issued in Howard County in the last 12 months, down 8% from 178 in the 12 months before. 91% were for horizontal wells. The most recent was issued Oct 30, 2026. 12,711 are on file since 1977.
Every Howard County permit →Who is the most active operator in Howard County?
By drilling permits filed in the last 12 months, Surge Operating, LLC is the most active operator in Howard County, with 34 of 163, followed by Diamondback E&P LLC (32) and Highpeak Energy Holdings, LLC (17). 6 operators filed permits here in the last 90 days.
Operators in Howard County →How many oil and gas wells are in Howard County?
16,375 wells are on file in Howard County, including 5,769 active, 5,187 plugged, and 82 permitted and not yet drilled. 3,776 are horizontal. The active wells are under 108 operators.
Every well in Howard County →How much oil and gas does Howard County produce?
The Railroad Commission files oil and gas production by lease, not by well or by county. Each lease with wells in Howard County is listed with its reported production on the county's Leases tab.
Leases in Howard County →How much water is injected in Howard County?
489 million barrels of water were injected in Howard County in the 12 months through June 2025, reported on form H-10. 1,165 of the county's 3,039 disposal and injection permits are active.
Disposal and injection in Howard County →What formations are drilled in Howard County?
Completion filings for wells in Howard County report tops for 15 formations in at least ten wells each. The most reported are the San Andres (6,371 wells, median top 3,090 ft), the Clear Fork (5,317 wells, median top 4,570 ft), and the Spraberry (5,297 wells, median top 6,279 ft).
Formations in Howard County →What basin is Howard County in?
Petrora lists Howard County in the Permian Basin. It is in the Railroad Commission's District 08.
The Permian Basin →Have there been earthquakes in Howard County?
136 earthquakes of magnitude 2 or more were located in the area of Howard County's permitted wells in the last 2 years; the largest was M4.3.
Earthquakes in Howard 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/howard?days=90, documented in the API reference.