Texas Permian Natural Gas, Oil Permitting Up in May, but State Overall Sees Declines

New natural gas and oil drilling permits almost doubled in May in one portion of the Permian Basin in Texas, but overall, activity was down sharply in the state.

The Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) issued 65 natural gas and oil drilling permits for the San Angelo district, aka District 7C, a nearly 97% increase year/year. San Angelo is considered to be on the edge of the Permian.

Statewide, total new drilling permits last month dropped by almost 20% to 805. RRC said it processed 702 permits for new oil or gas wells. It also processed 11 permits to re-enter plugged wellbores and 85 to recomplete existing wellbores.

Of the 702 new permits, 59 were for natural gas drilling, compared with 76 permits in May 2022. New drilling permits were also down to 172 for oil wells (minus...