The Railroad Commission of Texas issued 903 original drilling permits in September, down about 20% from the 1,125 permits released in August but up 21% compared to the 746 permits issued in the same month of 2016.

For the month, 781 permits were to drill new oil or gas wells, 106 were for wellbore recompletion, and 16 were to re-enter plugged wellbores. The permits included 215 for oil-only drilling, 64 for gas-only drilling, and 554 for oil or gas drilling.

The commission said it processed 318 oil, 101 gas and 40 injection well completions in September. During the same month of 2016, the commission reported 430 oil, 155 gas and 38 injection well completions.

Year-to-date well completions stand at 5,408, down 38% from the 8,737 well completions recorded in the same period in 2016.

Midland had the most oil well completions at 84 wells, and recorded 11 gas well completions. Meanwhile, the San Angelo area had the second highest oil well completion at 76 wells but had no gas completion for the month.