COUNTIES · PERMIAN BASIN · DISTRICT 08 · CODE 475
Ward County
Ward County permitting is running 12 permits a month over the trailing 90 days (37 total, down 20% on the prior quarter).
Pitts Energy Co. leads with 22 permits in the past 12 months, one of 20 operators active in the county.
3 operators filed a first Ward County permit in the past year.
Median permitted depth over the past year is 11,000 ft (prior year: 12,000 ft); 66% of the past year's permits are horizontal.
The county has 1,051 active disposal and injection permits, with 342M barrels injected in the 12 months reported through June 2025.
TexNet located 37 earthquakes of magnitude 2 or more in the county's permit footprint over the past two years, the largest M3.0.
11,531 drilling permits have been issued in Ward County since 1977.
11,531 permits on file since 1977 · last issued Oct 16, 2026
Watch Ward CountyAlso: every Ward County well in the statewide list, searchable → · a year of permits on the map →
- 37
- permits issued, 90d
- -20%
- vs prior 90d (46)
- 6
- operators filing
- 65%
- horizontal
- 9,954
- avg permitted depth, ft
- 490
- operators, all time
WINDOWS ON THE RRC ISSUE DATE · COMPUTED OCT 29, 2026 · WHY ISSUE AND SEEN DATES DIFFER
Permits issued by month
LAST 118 MONTHS · BY ISSUE DATE
Last 12 months 151 · prior 12 247(-39%)
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 Ward County came in the last year. 3 in total.
- MCM Operating, LLC12 permitsAug 14, 2026 · active elsewhere first
- Admiral Permian Operating LLC5 permitsJun 24, 2026 · active elsewhere first
- Pinon Operating II, LLC1 permitApr 24, 2026 · active elsewhere first
Permit types, 90d
| Type | Window | Prior | All time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Drill | 26 | 29 | 8,886 |
| Recompletion | 12 | 7 | 1,168 |
| Reclass | 0 | 1 | 40 |
Formations in completed wells
RRC WELLBORE FILE · ≥10 WELLS
Tops reported on completion filings for wells in Ward 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 Ward County report the Ellenburger, so it is below this table's cutoff. Back to the formation →
| Formation | Wells | Permitted last 3 yrs | Median top, ft | P10–P90 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yates | 3,505 | 35 | 2,460 | 2,100–2,589 |
| Rustler | 3,047 | 117 | 950 | 748–1,761 |
| Delaware | 1,588 | 122 | 4,953 | 4,645–5,134 |
| Tansill | 1,532 | 1 | 2,300 | 2,300–2,300 |
| Queen | 1,159 | 24 | 2,929 | 2,396–3,122 |
| Cherry Canyon | 886 | 29 | 5,840 | 5,619–6,107 |
| Seven Rivers | 811 | 17 | 2,610 | 2,169–2,938 |
| San Andres | 776 | 21 | 3,528 | 2,909–3,832 |
| Bone Spring | 722 | 39 | 8,656 | 8,059–10,744 |
| Lamar | 647 | 53 | 4,854 | 4,696–5,124 |
| Bell Canyon | 583 | 41 | 4,974 | 4,749–5,187 |
| Glorieta | 516 | 21 | 4,493 | 3,900–4,875 |
| Wolfcamp | 492 | 19 | 10,898 | 7,260–11,427 |
| Clear Fork | 454 | 28 | 4,870 | 4,405–5,617 |
| Holt | 393 | 7 | 4,600 | 4,122–5,454 |
Beyond the permit record
RRC UIC permits · H-10 reported volumes
Disposal and injection
- 1,051
- active UIC permits of 3,657
- 4.94M
- permitted bbl/day, active
- 342M
- bbl injected, last 12 reported months
- Jun 2025
- reported through
Every active well, operator, and daily reporter in Ward County →
Permitted volume is a ceiling, not throughput. How to read it →
TexNet catalog via USGS
Seismicity, last 2 years
- 37
- M2+ events in the area
- M3.0
- 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 919821 | Nov 1, 2026 | Oct 30, 2026 | Halcon Operating Co., Inc. | Sealy Ranch #5603HH | 13,000 | 47539124 |
| 919820 | Nov 1, 2026 | Oct 30, 2026 | Halcon Operating Co., Inc. | Sealy Ranch #5602HH | 13,000 | 47539123 |
| 919294 | Oct 18, 2026 | Oct 16, 2026 | Mewbourne Oil Company | Swoose 84/82 B #F101BGH | 14,750 | 47539122 |
| 919292 | Oct 18, 2026 | Oct 16, 2026 | Mewbourne Oil Company | Swoose 84/82 A #F101AHH | 14,600 | 47539121 |
| 919154 | Oct 10, 2026 | Oct 8, 2026 | Mewbourne Oil Company | Yankee Lady 85/86 A #F101PAH | 15,550 | 47539119 |
| 919155 | Oct 10, 2026 | Oct 8, 2026 | Mewbourne Oil Company | Yankee Lady 85/86 B #F101OBH | 15,680 | 47539120 |
| 919002 | Oct 4, 2026 | Oct 2, 2026 | Pitts Energy Co. | C. W. Edwards et AL #17 | 5,609 | 47533893 |
| 917808 | Sep 20, 2026 | Sep 18, 2026 | Pitts Energy Co. | Edwards, Jack -H- #1 | 5,350 | 47510370 |
| 917935 | Sep 17, 2026 | Sep 15, 2026 | Pitts Energy Co. | Edwards, C. W. et AL #14 | 5,600 | 47533833 |
| 918255 | Sep 17, 2026 | Sep 15, 2026 | Mewbourne Oil Company | Royal Flush 95/97 A #F101APH | 15,851 | 47539113 |
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/ward?days=90, documented in the API reference.