Market Data
US oil and gas production rolls up from millions of individual wells across more than a dozen producing basins. At the national level, the headline number masks divergent stories. The Permian has been the single largest contributor to crude growth for the better part of a decade, while gas production shifted dramatically toward Appalachia (Marcellus and Utica) and Haynesville as LNG export demand pulled prices toward global rather than regional balances.
Basin-level trends are more informative than national totals for mineral owners. A rising national oil number with a falling Bakken contribution tells you the marginal barrel is being added in the Permian — which matters if you own minerals in either basin. The opposite mix would tell you the Bakken has more drilling activity and tighter spacing, which usually pulls offer ranges higher in core counties.
For gas, the Henry Hub price is a misleading benchmark for producers in basins with poor takeaway capacity. Appalachian and Permian gas frequently sells at meaningful discounts to Henry Hub because pipeline egress is constrained, while Haynesville and Eagle Ford gas tends to track Henry Hub more closely. When you see a basin's gas production rising while its residue-gas realizations diverge from Henry Hub, the spread is usually telling you about midstream constraints, not geology.
Mineral owners often track their basin's production trajectory as a proxy for offer ranges. The correlation is real but lagged. A basin growing 8–10% year-over-year usually pulls mineral acquisition pricing higher within a quarter or two as buyers compete for inventory; a basin in flat-to-declining mode typically sees offer ranges soften as buyers wait for clearer drilling commitments.
The more useful frame, however, is sub-basin and county-level production within your basin. The Permian is not a single play. Midland Basin economics differ from Delaware Basin economics by lease, by depth, and by operator. Eagle Ford production by county breaks cleanly into the oil window (Karnes, DeWitt), the condensate fairway (La Salle, McMullen), and the dry-gas window (Webb, Dimmit) — each of which trades on different fundamentals. Looking at basin totals alone can mask a doubling or halving of activity in the specific county where your minerals sit.
For state-level views with county breakdowns, our state pages include the specific counties where Pointer is most active. For activity that hasn't shown up in production data yet, see the permit tracker and rig count — both lead production by 6–18 months.
Pointer Minerals is a direct principal buyer with more than 1,000 wells held across 19 producing states. When we underwrite a new mineral acquisition, we don't use national production charts at all — we use the specific sub-basin trajectory, recent type-curve performance in the relevant formation, and operator-by-operator decline behavior from our own held portfolio.
The published EIA Drilling Productivity Report numbers shown above are useful for orientation but lag actual field activity by two months and apply heavy smoothing to volatile basins. They're a fine starting point for owners who want a broad view of where activity is headed, but the offer we send on any specific tract is built from finer-grained inputs than this dashboard exposes. If you want a number specific to your tract, send us a brief description of what you own and we'll come back within 48 hours.
Basin and state totals are sourced from the EIA Drilling Productivity Report and state-regulator filings (TX RRC, NM OCD, ND DMR, OK OCC, CO COGCC, WY OGCC, and others). We refresh on the cadence each source publishes — monthly for most state regulators, monthly with a 2-month lag for the EIA report.
This dashboard rolls up to basin and state. For individual-well production, you'd look at the state regulator's W-10 or equivalent filing. Our well map lets you click any well to see operator, API, and field detail.
Not directly. Your royalty depends on the specific wells producing under your tract — a basin can grow while your wells decline (and frequently does, since decline is the natural state of any producing well). Basin growth matters most for non-producing acreage you own in active areas, where new drilling is the only way revenue starts.
Production data lags first oil by 60–90 days for most state regulators, longer for EIA basin rollups. If you want an earlier signal, watch the permit tracker (6–12 months ahead of first oil) and rig count (3–9 months ahead).