Quick answer: Sm Energy Company has 1,228 Texas/Oklahoma drilling permits in the last ten years, 68 of them in the last 12 complete months (+28.3% year over year). Its most-permitted county is Howard (38.8% of permits) and leading target is Permian Basin (65.2%).
| Year | Permits | Median lateral (ft) |
|---|---|---|
| 2017 | 117 | 10,288 |
| 2018 | 166 | 10,309 |
| 2019 | 187 | 11,040 |
| 2020 | 138 | 11,017 |
| 2021 | 154 | 10,890 |
| 2022 | 112 | 9,291 |
| 2023 | 122 | 11,330 |
| 2024 | 110 | 11,955 |
| 2025 | 61 | 12,926 |
| 2026 | 58 | 13,695 |
| County | Permits | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Howard (TX) | 476 | 38.8% |
| Webb (TX) | 328 | 26.7% |
| Upton (TX) | 213 | 17.3% |
| Martin (TX) | 174 | 14.2% |
| Dawson (TX) | 26 | 2.1% |
| Dimmit (TX) | 6 | 0.5% |
| Crane (TX) | 5 | 0.4% |
| Formation / play | Permits | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Permian Basin | 721 | 65.2% |
| Gulf Coast Basin (La - Tx) | 165 | 14.9% |
| Thirty-One Carbonate-Chert | 89 | 8% |
| Austin Chalk | 70 | 6.3% |
| Eagle Ford | 53 | 4.8% |
| Olmos | 8 | 0.7% |
| Median permit → spud | 30 days |
| Median spud → first reported production | 238 days |
| Permits older than 12 months that were spudded | 86.8% |
| Spuds older than 12 months reporting production | 92.4% |
| Median lateral, last 24 months vs earlier | 12,954 ft vs 10,906 ft |
Groups with fewer than three permits are folded into "all other". Computed by Valor from public oil and gas data; refreshed weekly. Data as of 2026-11-01.
Sm Energy Company has 1,228 Texas/Oklahoma drilling permits in the last ten years, 68 of them in the last 12 complete months (+28.3% year over year). Its most-permitted county is Howard (38.8% of permits) and leading target is Permian Basin (65.2%).
Across its permits, the median time from permit to spud is 30 days and from spud to first reported production 238 days. 86.8% of its permits older than a year have been spudded.
Its median lateral on permits from the last 24 months is 12,954 ft, versus 10,906 ft on earlier permits (+18.8%).
No. Valor publishes permit activity as statistics — counts by year, county and formation groupings of three or more permits, lateral trends and cycle times — rather than individual permit records.
These statistics are computed by Valor from public oil and gas data. © Valor, all rights reserved.