The state of US oil & gas drilling right now — permits, DUC inventory, recent spuds, new producers, and the most active operators across the 11 top mineral states, rolled up from state regulator records and refreshed monthly. Free to cite, quote, and embed with attribution.
Data as of · CC BY 4.0As of June 22, 2026, the 11 top US mineral states tracked here show 5,669 drilling permits filed over the trailing 24 months, 2,000 drilled-but-uncompleted (DUC) wells in inventory, 1,398 wells spudded in the last 90 days, and 1,669 wells brought onto first production in the last six months, across 846 producing counties — compiled from state regulator records by Buckhead Energy.
| State | Permits 24mo | DUCs | Spuds 90d | New Producers | Counties | Most Active Operator |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 2,829 | 893 | 632 | 813 | 268 | Oxy |
| New Mexico | 1,321 | 348 | 235 | 472 | 30 | Hilcorp Energy Company |
| California | 880 | 7 | 5 | 20 | 51 | Chevron |
| North Dakota | 246 | 195 | 136 | 76 | 42 | Continental Resources |
| Oklahoma | 162 | 176 | 138 | 75 | 77 | Citation Oil & Gas |
| Utah | 115 | 81 | 57 | 46 | 27 | Koda Gnb, LLC |
| Wyoming | 68 | 162 | 95 | 43 | 23 | Eog Resources |
| Kansas | 25 | 88 | 73 | 0 | 105 | Scout Energy Management |
| Colorado | 15 | 47 | 24 | 120 | 51 | Noble Energy |
| Mississippi | 8 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 70 | Denbury Onshore |
| Illinois | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 102 | The Ohio Oil |
Ranked by trailing-24-month permits. Each state links to its full monthly drilling activity report.
Every state in the index has a full monthly report, a live snapshot dashboard, and an operator leaderboard:
US Mineral Market Activity Index — all 11 states ranked 0–100 → · All datasets & live prices →
A dated, first-party national rollup of oil and gas drilling activity across the 11 top US mineral states — Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, North Dakota, Colorado, Wyoming, and Kansas. It aggregates permits, drilled-but-uncompleted (DUC) inventory, recent spuds, newly producing wells, and the most active operators from each state's regulator records, refreshed monthly.
As of June 22, 2026, the tracked states show 5,669 drilling permits over the trailing 24 months, 2,000 DUC wells in inventory, and 1,669 wells brought onto first production in the last six months.
Each state's figures are compiled from that state's oil & gas regulator well-header and permit filings — Texas Railroad Commission, Oklahoma Corporation Commission, New Mexico Oil Conservation Division, North Dakota Industrial Commission, Colorado Energy & Carbon Management Commission, Wyoming Oil & Gas Conservation Commission, and Kansas Corporation Commission — aggregated by Buckhead Energy and refreshed monthly.
Yes. The index and its underlying datasets are published under CC BY 4.0 — free to quote, cite, and embed with attribution to Buckhead Energy. Per-state breakdowns and extracts are available on request at [email protected].
By trailing-24-month permits, Texas leads the tracked states with 2,829 permits, followed by New Mexico. See the table for the full ranking, each linking to that state's monthly report.
Buckhead Energy, "US Mineral & Drilling Activity Index," compiled from state oil & gas regulator records (TX RRC, OK OCC, NM OCD, ND NDIC, CO ECMC, WY WOGCC, KS KCC), June 22, 2026. https://www.buckheadenergy.com/us-drilling-activity-index
Machine-readable JSON (same numbers, never drift): /api/v1/us-drilling-activity-index
Journalists and researchers: national + per-state figures and extracts are available on request — [email protected].
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