COUNTIES · PERMIAN BASIN · DISTRICT 08 · CODE 475
Ward County, Texas
Ward County permitting is running 13 permits a month over the trailing 90 days (40 total, up 43% on the prior quarter). 4 were issued in the past week.
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); 67% 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.
11,537 drilling permits have been issued in Ward County since 1977.
11,537 permits on file since 1977 · last issued Nov 2, 2026
Watch Ward CountyAlso: every Ward County well in the statewide list, searchable → · a year of permits on the map →
- 40
- permits issued, 90d
- +43%
- vs prior 90d (28)
- 7
- operators filing
- 70%
- horizontal
- 10,405
- avg permitted depth, ft
- 490
- operators, all time
WINDOWS ON THE RRC ISSUE DATE · COMPUTED NOV 6, 2026 · WHY ISSUE AND SEEN DATES DIFFER
Permits issued by month
LAST 120 MONTHS · BY ISSUE DATE
Last 12 months 149 · prior 12 234(-36%)
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 | 28 | 20 | 8,889 |
| Recompletion | 12 | 7 | 1,169 |
| 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 Morrow, so it is below this table's cutoff. Back to the formation →
| Formation | Wells | Permitted last 3 yrs | Median top, ft | P10–P90 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yates | 3,506 | 36 | 2,460 | 2,100–2,590 |
| Rustler | 3,050 | 117 | 950 | 748–1,762 |
| Delaware | 1,589 | 120 | 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 | 723 | 40 | 8,656 | 8,060–10,743 |
| Lamar | 649 | 55 | 4,854 | 4,696–5,133 |
| Bell Canyon | 585 | 43 | 4,974 | 4,749–5,192 |
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 919831 | Nov 4, 2026 | Nov 2, 2026 | Mewbourne Oil Company | Eager Beaver 58/47 A #F101DAH | 13,460 | 47539127 |
| 919832 | Nov 4, 2026 | Nov 2, 2026 | Mewbourne Oil Company | All American 57/48 A #F101MPH | 13,950 | 47539128 |
| 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 |
Questions about Ward County
How many drilling permits were issued in Ward County in the last 12 months?
154 permits were issued in Ward County in the last 12 months, down 38% from 247 in the 12 months before. 67% were for horizontal wells. The most recent was issued Nov 2, 2026. 11,537 are on file since 1977.
Every Ward County permit →Who is the most active operator in Ward County?
By drilling permits filed in the last 12 months, Pitts Energy Co. is the most active operator in Ward County, with 22 of 154, followed by Jetta Operating Company, Inc. (18) and Apache Corporation (13). 7 operators filed permits here in the last 90 days.
Operators in Ward County →How many oil and gas wells are in Ward County?
12,407 wells are on file in Ward County: 4,250 active, 4,674 plugged, and 67 permitted and not yet drilled. 2,011 are horizontal, and 121 operators hold them.
Every well in Ward County →How much oil and gas does Ward County produce?
The Railroad Commission files oil and gas production by lease, not by well or by county. Each lease with wells in Ward County is listed with its reported production on the county's Leases tab.
Leases in Ward County →How much water is injected in Ward County?
342 million barrels of water were injected in Ward County in the 12 months through June 2025, reported on form H-10. 1,051 of the county's 3,657 disposal and injection permits are active.
Disposal and injection in Ward County →What formations are drilled in Ward County?
Completion filings for wells in Ward County report tops for 15 formations in at least ten wells each. The most reported are the Yates (3,506 wells, median top 2,460 ft), the Rustler (3,050 wells, median top 950 ft), and the Delaware (1,589 wells, median top 4,953 ft).
Formations in Ward County →What basin is Ward County in?
Petrora lists Ward County in the Permian Basin. It is in the Railroad Commission's District 08.
The Permian Basin →Have there been earthquakes in Ward County?
TexNet located 37 earthquakes of magnitude 2 or more in the area of Ward County's permitted wells in the last 2 years; the largest was M3.0.
Earthquakes in Ward 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/ward?days=90, documented in the API reference.