COUNTIES · PERMIAN BASIN · DISTRICT 08 · CODE 431
Sterling County
Sterling County has had no new drilling permits in the past 90 days; the most recent permit on record was issued July 10, 2026.
Ike Operating, LLC leads with 2 permits in the past 12 months, one of 2 operators active in the county.
One operator filed a first Sterling County permit in the past year.
Median permitted depth over the past year is 8,500 ft (prior year: 8,390 ft); 67% of the past year's permits are horizontal.
The county has 97 active disposal and injection permits, with 3.94M barrels injected in the 12 months reported through June 2025.
TexNet located 95 earthquakes of magnitude 2 or more in the county's permit footprint over the past two years, the largest M3.4.
3,842 drilling permits have been issued in Sterling County since 1977.
3,842 permits on file since 1977 · last issued Jul 10, 2026
Watch Sterling CountyAlso: every Sterling County well in the statewide list, searchable → · a year of permits on the map →
- 0
- permits issued, 90d
- -100%
- vs prior 90d (3)
- 0
- operators filing
- —
- horizontal
- —
- avg permitted depth, ft
- 321
- operators, all time
WINDOWS ON THE RRC ISSUE DATE · COMPUTED OCT 29, 2026 · WHY ISSUE AND SEEN DATES DIFFER
Permits issued by month
LAST 36 MONTHS · BY ISSUE DATE
Last 12 months 25 · prior 12 23(+9%)
Top operators, last 12 months
By permits issued. Wells are the operator’s current inventory here from the RRC wellbore file.
| Operator | Permits | Wells |
|---|---|---|
| Ike Operating, LLC | 2 | 0 |
| Ampak Oil Company | 1 | 9 |
New entrants, last 12 months
Operators whose first permit in Sterling County came in the last year. 1 in total.
- Ike Operating, LLC2 permitsJul 9, 2026 · active elsewhere first
Formations in completed wells
RRC WELLBORE FILE · ≥10 WELLS
Tops reported on completion filings for wells in Sterling 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 Sterling County report the Pennsylvanian, so it is below this table's cutoff. Back to the formation →
| Formation | Wells | Permitted last 3 yrs | Median top, ft | P10–P90 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Canyon | 1,235 | 0 | 7,604 | 7,002–8,049 |
| Wolfcamp | 1,076 | 4 | 6,340 | 5,206–7,540 |
| Cisco | 1,036 | 1 | 7,343 | 6,755–7,810 |
| San Andres | 531 | 4 | 1,976 | 1,593–2,326 |
| Dean | 434 | 0 | 6,042 | 5,629–6,349 |
| Queen | 386 | 4 | 1,596 | 1,150–1,840 |
| Yates | 371 | 3 | 1,217 | 875–1,396 |
| Clear Fork | 337 | 4 | 2,834 | 2,115–3,777 |
| Seven Rivers | 318 | 4 | 1,300 | 993–1,500 |
| Spraberry | 183 | 0 | 4,754 | 4,471–5,100 |
| Grayburg | 180 | 1 | 1,842 | 1,481–2,080 |
| Coleman Junction | 131 | 3 | 4,078 | 3,150–4,557 |
| Glorieta | 116 | 3 | 2,570 | 1,852–3,177 |
| Strawn | 114 | 2 | 8,121 | 7,215–8,784 |
| Wichita-Albany | 106 | 4 | 4,054 | 3,076–6,064 |
Beyond the permit record
RRC UIC permits · H-10 reported volumes
Disposal and injection
- 97
- active UIC permits of 243
- 230K
- permitted bbl/day, active
- 3.94M
- bbl injected, last 12 reported months
- Jun 2025
- reported through
Every active well, operator, and daily reporter in Sterling County →
Permitted volume is a ceiling, not throughput. How to read it →
TexNet catalog via USGS
Seismicity, last 2 years
- 95
- M2+ events in the area
- M3.4
- 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 916959 | Jul 10, 2026 | Jul 10, 2026 | Ike Operating, LLC | Dana Point #2HH | 8,500 | 43133532 |
| 916958 | Jul 9, 2026 | Jul 9, 2026 | Ike Operating, LLC | San Marino #1HH | 8,500 | 43133531 |
| 915133 | May 19, 2026 | May 19, 2026 | Ampak Oil Company | Parramore #3 | 8,675 | 43131461 |
| 910373 | Sep 18, 2025 | Sep 18, 2025 | Winn Operating, LLC | Reed 'F' #2 U | 7,497 | 43110363 |
| 910105 | Aug 28, 2025 | Aug 28, 2025 | Kek Exploration LLC | Foster 60 #1A | 7,880 | 43133043 |
| 910082 | Aug 28, 2025 | Aug 28, 2025 | Kek Exploration LLC | Spade 18 #5101 | 8,900 | 43133530 |
| 909796 | Aug 12, 2025 | Aug 12, 2025 | Kek Exploration LLC | Axe #1 | 8,900 | 43133529 |
| 909796 | Aug 12, 2025 | Aug 12, 2025 | Kek Exploration LLC | Axe #1 | 8,900 | 43133529 |
| 905433 | Mar 26, 2025 | Mar 26, 2025 | Black River Operating LLC | TXL #20 | 2,500 | 43132819 |
| 901127 | Jul 16, 2024 | Jul 16, 2024 | Ampak Oil Company | Nellie Sellers 'A' #1A | 8,856 | 43133512 |
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/sterling?days=90, documented in the API reference.