Top 10 drillers of 2019
There’s a new pecking order in the oil patch.
A huge push in West Texas has allowed oil major Exxon Mobil to unseat Houston exploration and production company EOG Resources as the top driller in Texas.
Exxon Mobil’s shale arm XTO Energy filed for 659 drilling permits with the Railroad Commission of Texas this year, easily surpassing the 508 filed by EOG
Resources.
Nearly 90 percent of Exxon Mobil’s permits were for projects in the Permian Basin, while nearly 7 percent were in the Eagle Ford Shale of South Texas. The remainder were split across the state.
With crude oil prices stuck in the $50-to-$60 per barrel range most of the year, drilling activity was down in Texas by nearly 10 percent in 2019. Some 921 operators filed 11,932 drilling permits through Dec. 23 of this year, compared to the 1,014 operators filing for 13,175 permits during the same time period in 2018.
Permian Basin
A battle for dominance is underway in the Permian Basin, which accounted for nearly twothirds of drilling permit filings. Large independents such as EOG Resources, Occidental Petroleum of Houston and Diamondback Energy of Midland remain the biggest competitors to oil majors such as Exxon Mobil and Chevron.
Eagle Ford Shale
The Eagle Ford accounted for more than one-fifth of Texas drilling permits in 2019. EOG Resources remained the South Texas shale play’s top driller with 397 permits. A merger with Wildhorse Resources allowed Oklahoma-based Chesapeake Energy to come in second. Houston oil major ConocoPhillips was ranked third.
Haynesville Shale
With 42 permits filed, Houston exploration and production company Rockcliff Energy was the top horizontal driller in the East Texas natural gas play. Dallasbased natural gas company Aethon Energy was ranked in second place while British oil major BP was ranked third.
Barnett Shale
There were only enough horizontal drilling permits to rank five companies in the Barnett Shale of North Texas. Houston exploration and production company Lime Rock Resources ranked in first place with 21 permits while Tulsabased Sage Natural Resources was second. Third-place Devon Energy recently sold its Barnett Shale leases in a $770 million deal.
Conventionals
With 99 permits filed for vertical and directional wells, Houston oil company Hilcorp Energy Co. is the state’s top conventional driller. Farmers Branch oil company Scout Energy Partners ranked second while McKinney oil company Newport Operating ranked third.