COUNTIES · PERMIAN BASIN · DISTRICT 7C · CODE 461
Upton County, Texas
Upton County permitting is running 41 permits a month over the trailing 90 days (122 total, up 17% on the prior quarter). 22 were issued in the past week.
Pioneer Natural Res. USA, Inc. leads with 118 permits in the past 12 months, one of 22 operators active in the county.
5 operators filed a first Upton County permit in the past year.
Median permitted depth over the past year is 10,300 ft (prior year: 10,075 ft); 98% of the past year's permits are horizontal.
The county has 583 active disposal and injection permits, with 208M barrels injected in the 12 months reported through June 2025.
40 earthquakes of magnitude 2 or more were located in the county's permit footprint over the past two years, the largest M3.6.
13,726 drilling permits have been issued in Upton County since 1977.
13,726 permits on file since 1977 · last issued Nov 5, 2026
Email me new permitsAlso: every Upton County well in the statewide list, searchable → · a year of permits on the map →
- 122
- permits issued, 90d
- +17%
- vs prior 90d (104)
- 11
- operators filing
- 98%
- horizontal
- 11,019
- avg permitted depth, ft
- 467
- 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 478 · prior 12 356(+34%)
Top operators, last 12 months
By permits issued. Wells are the operator’s current inventory here from the RRC wellbore file.
| Operator | Permits | Wells |
|---|---|---|
| Pioneer Natural Res. USA, Inc. | 118 | 3,524 |
| Apache Corporation | 76 | 511 |
| COG Operating LLC | 46 | 1,547 |
| Civitas Permian Operating, LLC | 45 | 338 |
| Ovintiv USA Inc. | 44 | 319 |
| Summit Petroleum LLC | 38 | 458 |
| Firebird Energy II LLC | 28 | 516 |
| Chevron U. S. A. Inc. | 18 | 56 |
| Mewbourne Oil Company | 12 | 1 |
| SM Energy Company | 8 | 463 |
New entrants, last 12 months
Operators whose first permit in Upton County came in the last year. 5 in total.
- Saxum Opco, LLC8 permitsMay 18, 2026 · new to Texas permits
- Admiral Permian Operating LLC4 permitsMay 6, 2026 · active elsewhere first
- Aqua Terra Permian, LLC4 permitsMay 1, 2026 · active elsewhere first
- Deep Blue Operating I LLC2 permitsApr 20, 2026 · active elsewhere first
- Petx Operating LLC1 permitAug 6, 2026 · active elsewhere first
Permit types, 90d
| Type | Window | Prior | All time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Drill | 120 | 104 | 12,322 |
| Reenter | 1 | 0 | 100 |
| Recompletion | 0 | 1 | 1,081 |
Formations in completed wells
RRC WELLBORE FILE · ≥10 WELLS
Tops reported on completion filings for wells in Upton 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 Upton County report the Simpson, so it is below this table's cutoff. Back to the formation →
| Formation | Wells | Permitted last 3 yrs | Median top, ft | P10–P90 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spraberry | 8,091 | 751 | 7,334 | 6,720–7,799 |
| Wolfcamp | 6,350 | 441 | 8,815 | 8,153–9,207 |
| San Andres | 4,623 | 760 | 4,488 | 3,784–4,931 |
| Yates | 3,953 | 646 | 2,410 | 1,878–2,838 |
| Grayburg | 3,647 | 645 | 3,979 | 2,622–4,593 |
| Dean | 3,273 | 47 | 8,630 | 8,044–9,016 |
| Clear Fork | 2,299 | 383 | 6,531 | 5,900–7,111 |
| Strawn | 1,712 | 16 | 10,244 | 9,357–10,754 |
| Rustler | 639 | 18 | 1,018 | 940–1,511 |
| Devonian | 619 | 7 | 10,738 | 8,127–11,550 |
| Bend | 510 | 2 | 10,450 | 9,597–10,986 |
| Queen | 507 | 37 | 2,351 | 1,719–4,077 |
| Atoka | 426 | 2 | 10,410 | 9,556–11,098 |
| Pennsylvanian | 404 | 1 | 10,294 | 9,083–11,077 |
| Fusselman | 265 | 4 | 11,370 | 9,504–12,240 |
Beyond the permit record
RRC UIC permits · H-10 reported volumes
Disposal and injection
- 583
- active UIC permits of 1,598
- 3.76M
- permitted bbl/day, active
- 208M
- bbl injected, last 12 reported months
- Jun 2025
- reported through
Every active well, operator, and daily reporter in Upton County →
Permitted volume is a ceiling, not throughput. How to read it →
USGS catalog, Texas
Seismicity, last 2 years
- 40
- M2+ events in the area
- M3.6
- 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 919219 | Nov 7, 2026 | Nov 5, 2026 | Diamondback E&P LLC | Kennett 29-41 #4WDH | 13,000 | 46143826 |
| 919218 | Nov 7, 2026 | Nov 5, 2026 | Diamondback E&P LLC | Kennett 29-41 #3WDH | 13,000 | 46143825 |
| 919217 | Nov 7, 2026 | Nov 5, 2026 | Diamondback E&P LLC | Kennett 29-41 #2WDH | 13,000 | 46143824 |
| 919892 | Nov 6, 2026 | Nov 4, 2026 | Civitas Permian Operating, LLC | Loki G #244WBH | 13,000 | 46143863 |
| 919891 | Nov 6, 2026 | Nov 4, 2026 | Civitas Permian Operating, LLC | Loki G #174DNH | 12,950 | 46143862 |
| 919890 | Nov 6, 2026 | Nov 4, 2026 | Civitas Permian Operating, LLC | Loki G #134USH | 12,900 | 46143861 |
| 919888 | Nov 6, 2026 | Nov 4, 2026 | Civitas Permian Operating, LLC | Loki F #224WBH | 12,850 | 46143860 |
| 919887 | Nov 6, 2026 | Nov 4, 2026 | Civitas Permian Operating, LLC | Loki F #154JMH | 12,800 | 46143859 |
| 919885 | Nov 6, 2026 | Nov 4, 2026 | Civitas Permian Operating, LLC | Loki E #243WBH | 12,750 | 46143858 |
| 919884 | Nov 6, 2026 | Nov 4, 2026 | Civitas Permian Operating, LLC | Loki E #173DNH | 12,700 | 46143857 |
Questions about Upton County
How many drilling permits were issued in Upton County in the last 12 months?
482 permits were issued in Upton County in the last 12 months, up 22% from 395 in the 12 months before. 98% were for horizontal wells. The most recent was issued Nov 5, 2026. 13,726 are on file since 1977.
Every Upton County permit →Who is the most active operator in Upton County?
By drilling permits filed in the last 12 months, Pioneer Natural Res. USA, Inc. is the most active operator in Upton County, with 118 of 482, followed by Apache Corporation (76) and COG Operating LLC (46). 11 operators filed permits here in the last 90 days.
Operators in Upton County →How many oil and gas wells are in Upton County?
16,620 wells are on file in Upton County, including 5,405 active, 5,977 plugged, and 195 permitted and not yet drilled. 3,973 are horizontal. The active wells are under 107 operators.
Every well in Upton County →How much oil and gas does Upton County produce?
The Railroad Commission files oil and gas production by lease, not by well or by county. Each lease with wells in Upton County is listed with its reported production on the county's Leases tab.
Leases in Upton County →How much water is injected in Upton County?
208 million barrels of water were injected in Upton County in the 12 months through June 2025, reported on form H-10. 583 of the county's 1,598 disposal and injection permits are active.
Disposal and injection in Upton County →What formations are drilled in Upton County?
Completion filings for wells in Upton County report tops for 15 formations in at least ten wells each. The most reported are the Spraberry (8,091 wells, median top 7,334 ft), the Wolfcamp (6,350 wells, median top 8,815 ft), and the San Andres (4,623 wells, median top 4,488 ft).
Formations in Upton County →What basin is Upton County in?
Petrora lists Upton County in the Permian Basin. It is in the Railroad Commission's District 7C.
The Permian Basin →Have there been earthquakes in Upton County?
40 earthquakes of magnitude 2 or more were located in the area of Upton County's permitted wells in the last 2 years; the largest was M3.6.
Earthquakes in Upton 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/upton?days=90, documented in the API reference.