How American Royalty Buyers compiles its Permian drilling-activity dataset — sources, definitions, limits, and a dated changelog
American Royalty Buyers publishes a dated, machine-readable Permian Basin dataset built from public drilling-permit records filed with the Texas Railroad Commission and the New Mexico Oil Conservation Division (accessed via Energy Domain). It counts new permits over a trailing 90-day window, attributes them to operators and counties, and refreshes on a quarterly cadence. The current release is as of June 11, 2026. The underlying permit filings are public record; ARB's compilation and documentation are what we ask you to cite.
Every number in the Permian dataset traces to a primary public source. New drilling permits are pulled from the Texas Railroad Commission (RRC) for Texas counties and the New Mexico Oil Conservation Division (OCD) for New Mexico counties, accessed through Energy Domain's data pipeline. Active rig counts and benchmark commodity prices come from published rig and spot-price reports. No figure is modeled or estimated — each is a count of, or a quote from, a public filing.
Permit counts reflect new drilling permits with a filing date inside the trailing 90 days as of the release date (trailing 90 days (March 13 – June 11, 2026)). A rolling window keeps the picture current: a permit counts once, in the release whose window contains its filing date, and rolls off after 90 days. This measures new activity — it is not a cumulative or all-time permit total.
Permits are attributed to the operator of record named on the filing. Where a company files under multiple affiliated entities, permits are reported under the recognized parent operator name; the payor (check-stub) names those wells commonly pay under are listed separately so a mineral owner can match a royalty check to the operator. Operator rankings reflect permit filing activity only — they are not a measure of production, reserves, or valuation, and ARB is an independent buyer not affiliated with any operator listed.
Each permit is attributed to the county named on the filing. Counties are mapped to their Permian sub-basin (Midland Basin, Delaware Basin, Central Basin Platform, Eastern Shelf) where applicable; a county that straddles two plays is mapped to both. Coverage extends beyond the Permian to other active U.S. basins, but the headline statistics on this site are Permian-focused.
The dataset is refreshed on a quarterly cadence. Each release carries an explicit "as of" date (currently June 11, 2026) so a citation can pin the exact vintage. Machine-readable copies are available as JSON (/api/operators, /api/permian-stats, /api/counties) and CSV (operators.csv, counties.csv), described in the OpenAPI document.
The underlying permit filings, rig counts, and spot prices are public data and are not claimed as proprietary. What American Royalty Buyers contributes — and what we ask you to attribute — is the dated compilation, the operator and county attribution, and this documentation. See How to Cite for ready-made citations.