Houston County Texas Drilling Permits And Reported Spuds (2026)

Houston County had 3 Texas drilling permit records in the 90-day window ending October 9, 2026. The same review found 6 trailing-12-month permit records, 1 source-filed operator label, and 0 reported-spud records in the separate source window.

Among the 122 Texas counties with permit activity in this public collection, Houston ranks 79 by 90-day permit count. This rank covers the counties shown here, not every county in the state. It does not measure acreage, production, rig count, capital spending, or commercial awards.

Houston County permit snapshot reviewed October 15, 2026

This is a fixed snapshot reviewed October 15, 2026. The permit source runs through October 9, 2026 and the reported-spud source through September 26, 2026. Newer records may be available in the app and API. Those clocks are shown separately because permits and reported spuds are different record stages.

Leading source-filed operator labels

EMPIRE TEXAS OPERATING LLC leads this public preview with 3 permits, or 100.0% of the county total. The 1 displayed label accounts for 3 permits (100.0%). Operator names are preserved as filed; similarly named entities are not consolidated without separate identity evidence.

Permit and reported-spud timing

No reported-spud record appears for Houston County in the reviewed window through September 26, 2026. That is not proof that no drilling occurred.

Texas reported-spud records are deduplicated by API-10 and spud date.

A permit is an authorization or filing-stage record. A reported spud is a later drilling-stage record. The two totals should not be added together or divided into a conversion rate because their reporting cadence, coverage, and population differ.

How Houston County records are assigned

Texas county assignment uses the three-digit county FIPS segment in a valid API identifier. Field geography is not used as a substitute because an oil or gas field can cross county boundaries. Rows that cannot support valid county attribution stay in the statewide dataset and are not forced into Houston County.

This method produces a county lookup page that can be refreshed from the same state snapshot. It does not publish individual permit numbers, API identifiers, well names, coordinates, or the complete operator table. Those record-level fields remain in the app and API workflow.

Browse the Texas county permit directory to compare reviewed county totals, or use the Texas and New Mexico county permit hub to switch states.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many recent drilling permits are in Houston County?

Houston County has 3 permit records in the reviewed 90-day window ending October 9, 2026 and 6 trailing-12-month permit records.

Which operator has the most recent Houston County permits?

EMPIRE TEXAS OPERATING LLC leads the reviewed source-filed preview with 3 permits. This is a filing-label ranking, not a corporate-family, acreage, production, or spending ranking.

Does a drilling permit mean the well was drilled?

No. A permit is a filing-stage record. Reported-spud, completion, and production records are later stages and should be checked separately.

Where can I get the individual Houston County permit records?

The EnergyNetWatch app and API workflow provide the record-level identifiers, dates, operator labels, map context, filters, exports, and monitoring options that are intentionally omitted from this public county summary.