he Railroad Commission of Texas (Commission) issued a total of 1,009 original
drilling permits in December 2016 compared to 727 in December 2015. The December total
included 909 permits to drill new oil or gas wells, 17 to re-enter plugged well bores and
83 for re-completions of existing well bores. The breakdown of well types for those permits
issued December 2016 included 267 oil, 57 gas, 612 oil or gas, 62 injection, zero service
and 11 other permits.
In December 2016,Commission staff processed 430 oil, 93 gas, 20 injection and two other
completions compared to 788 oil, 151 gas, 53 injection and one other completions in December
2015. Total well completions for 2016 are 10,468; down from 19,503 recorded in 2015.
According to Baker Hughes Inc., the Texas rig count as of January 6 was 327, representing
about 49 percent of all active rigs in the United States.
For additional drilling permit and completion statistics, visit the Commission’s
website at
under "Monthly Drilling, Completion and Plugging Summaries".
TABLE 1 - DECEMBER 2016 TEXAS OIL AND GAS DRILLING PERMITS AND COMPLETIONS BY RAILROAD
COMMISSION OF TEXAS DISTRICT*
DISTRICT PERMITS TO DRILL
OIL/GAS HOLES OIL COMPLETIONS GAS COMPLETIONS
(1) SAN ANTONIO AREA 143 93 13
(2) REFUGIO AREA 121 33 19
(3) SOUTHEAST TEXAS 35 11 22
(4) DEEP SOUTH TEXAS 23 3 7
(5) EAST CENTRAL TX 10 1 0
(6) EAST TEXAS 38 12 5
(7B) WEST CENTRAL TX 37 11 2
(7C) SAN ANGELO AREA 89 34 0
(8) MIDLAND 374 159 10
(8A) LUBBOCK AREA 88 39 0
(9) NORTH TEXAS 35 26 2
(10) PANHANDLE 16 8 13
TOTAL 1,009 430 93
*A district map is available on the Railroad Commission of Texas website at