Upton County Texas Drilling Permits And Reported Spuds (2026)

Upton County had 63 Texas drilling permit records with valid API county coding in the 90-day window ending July 10, 2026. The same review found 91 trailing-12-month permit records and 9 source-filed operator labels with recent permit activity.

The county also had 6 deduplicated reported-spud events in the separate 90-day spud window ending June 23. Upton's latest permit issue date was July 8, and its latest reported spud was April 5.

The two counts describe different stages. A permit records planned or authorized drilling activity. A reported spud records a drilling start where the source includes a spud date. Neither total is a completion or production count.

EnergyNetWatch reviewed Texas permit and reported-spud records on July 22, 2026. County permit totals include records with valid Texas API county coding.

Upton County Texas Drilling Activity Snapshot

The permit window begins April 11 and ends on the latest Texas permit issue date. The spud window begins March 25 and ends on the latest Texas reported-spud date. Using a separate date anchor for each source keeps the 90-day figures comparable within their own record type.

Upton sits close to Reeves in the current permit review: 63 recent API-coded permit records in Upton and 64 in Reeves. Their operator distributions are different. Upton's leading five labels account for 84.1% of its current count, while Reeves has a broader 13-label mix.

Leading Upton County Operator Labels

This public preview shows five of the nine operator labels with recent API-coded Upton County permits. The complete operator set and the record-level permit and spud tables remain in EnergyNetWatch.

The operator table uses permit counts only. Reported-spud attribution is kept out of the public operator ranking because the statewide spud source does not have complete operator linkage for every event. The county's six-event total is published separately.

Upton County Permit Concentration

Chevron and Summit account for 30 of the 63 recent permit records, or 47.6% of the current API-coded county count. FireBird adds nine, while Apache and Discovery each add seven. Together, the five displayed labels account for 53 of 63 permits, or 84.1%.

The current distribution is concentrated without being a one-operator table. Chevron leads with 16 records and Summit follows with 14. The remaining displayed operators contribute 23 permits, leaving 10 records across four additional labels.

The annual column shows that most of the displayed filing activity is recent. Chevron, Summit, Apache, and Discovery have the same 90-day and trailing-12-month count. FireBird has nine recent permits against 10 over 12 months. These figures describe filing dates; they do not show whether each permit has been drilled.

Permit concentration also is not the same as acreage, rig count, working interest, production share, capital allocation, or vendor spend. It is a count of source-filed operator labels on recent permit records.

Upton County Reported Spuds

The reviewed Texas source contains six deduplicated Upton County reported-spud events in the 90-day spud window. The latest event was April 5.

A reported spud adds evidence that drilling started. It does not show completion status, first production, current production, reserves, or economic performance. Those claims require later records.

The six spuds should not be divided by the 63 permits to calculate a conversion rate. The date windows are anchored to different source clocks, and a spud in the current window can relate to a permit issued before April 11. Reporting lag and source coverage also differ between permit and spud records.

Record sequence: permit issue, reported spud, completion or status record, first production, then production history.

Keeping the stages separate allows the current permit queue and drilling-start evidence to be reviewed without changing what either source proves.

Fields Behind The County Totals

The county total is a screening measure. The record-level table supplies the identifiers, dates, and location fields needed to validate each row.

EnergyNetWatch keeps a blank spud date blank. It does not assign an estimated drilling start to a permit-only record. Coordinates are also used only when the source provides a valid location.

Upton County Compared With Other Reviewed Counties

The selected Permian county comparison uses the same permit and spud source cuts for every row.

Upton and Reeves have nearly the same current permit count. Upton has one more reported-spud event in the reviewed window and fewer operator labels. Loving has fewer permits but a much larger reported-spud total. Midland leads the group in recent permits.

These differences are more useful than one undifferentiated Permian number. They show that current permit volume, operator concentration, and reported-spud activity do not move in the same order across counties.

This remains a selected Permian comparison. It is not a complete statewide rank because recent Texas permit rows without valid API county coding cannot be assigned to a county using the same method.

Texas County Matching And Coverage

EnergyNetWatch assigns Texas county activity from the three-digit county FIPS segment in the API number. The statewide 90-day permit window contained 2,096 records. Of those, 1,091 had a valid API county segment and could be counted in county totals.

Rows without valid API county coding remain in the statewide dataset. They are not assigned to Upton through field_county_code. Field geography can cross county lines and does not establish the permit's surface county.

This is why the page uses the label API-coded permit records. The total is smaller than a count built from mixed geography fields, but each included row has a defensible county key.

Reported-spud events are matched by API and deduplicated by API plus spud date. The spud source uses its own date anchor. Public operator rows remain permit-only because operator attribution is not complete for every statewide spud event.

Source Dates And Definitions

EnergyNetWatch ran this read-only review on July 22, 2026. Texas permit records were current through July 10, and Texas reported-spud records were current through June 23. Upton's latest permit was issued July 8. Its latest reported spud in the reviewed source was April 5.

Permit rows are counted by issue date. Reported-spud events are counted by spud date after deduplication. Operator totals use exact source-filed names.

The figures are not unique producing wells, completions, reserves, acreage, production volumes, revenue, capital guidance, contract awards, or forecast activity. Later filings or source corrections can change current records.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many recent drilling permits are in Upton County, Texas?

EnergyNetWatch found 63 permit records with valid Upton County API coding in the 90-day window ending July 10, 2026. The trailing-12-month count was 91.

How many recent reported spuds are in Upton County?

The reviewed Texas source contained six deduplicated Upton County reported-spud events in the 90-day window ending June 23. The latest county event was April 5.

Are 63 permits the same as 63 drilled wells?

No. A permit is a planned or authorized drilling record. A reported spud supplies separate drilling-start evidence. Completion and production require later source records.

Which operator has the most Upton County permits in this review?

CHEVRON U. S. A. INC. leads the public table with 16 recent permits. SUMMIT PETROLEUM LLC follows with 14.

Why is there no operator spud column?

The public operator ranking uses the permit source because spud-to-operator linkage is not complete for every statewide event. The page reports the defensible county-level spud total separately.

Does this page include every Texas permit that might relate to Upton?

No. County totals require a valid API county segment. Rows without that geography remain in the statewide table and are not reassigned from a field-county value.

Is this a production ranking?

No. This page covers permits and reported spuds. Production records use a separate source and reporting cadence.

Related EnergyNetWatch Pages

• Midland County Texas drilling permits and reported spuds
• Reeves County Texas drilling permits and reported spuds
• Loving County Texas drilling permits and reported spuds
• Texas RRC data guide
• Texas oil and gas permit activity watchlist