US Drilling Activity holds steady - 192 Frac Spreads Active (July 2026)
16,508 new well permits this month. 2,523 DUC wells inventory.
Updated 12 hours agoActive Crews
As of July 2, 2026
This Month
As of July 2, 2026
Inventory
As of July 2, 2026
Frac Spreads by Basin
UnchangedDUC Wells by Basin
View basin details →Explore Drilling Data
Access This Data via API
Access drilling intelligence data programmatically. Frac spreads, well permits, and DUC wells via REST API.
/v1/drilling-intelligencecurl -X GET "https://api.oilpriceapi.com/v1/drilling-intelligence"
Sample Response
{
"data": {
"frac_spreads": 192,
"well_permits": 16508,
"duc_wells": 2523
},
"meta": {
"source": "Multiple (Baker Hughes, State Agencies, EIA)",
"updated_at": "2026-07-02T17:05:32.564Z"
}
}Frequently Asked Questions About Drilling Intelligence
Frac spreads (hydraulic fracturing crews) are teams of equipment and personnel that complete wells through fracking. The number of active frac spreads indicates near-term production growth—more spreads mean more wells being completed and brought online.
DUC (Drilled but Uncompleted) wells are wells that have been drilled but not yet hydraulically fractured. They represent a "shadow inventory" of future production that can be brought online relatively quickly when economic conditions improve.
Well permits are required before drilling can begin. A rising permit count signals operator confidence and future drilling activity, while declining permits suggest a slowdown ahead. Permit data leads actual drilling by 30-90 days.
Rig count measures drilling activity (new wells being drilled), while frac spread count measures completion activity (wells being finished). The ratio between them indicates how quickly the industry is working through its DUC inventory.
Our drilling intelligence aggregates data from multiple sources: Baker Hughes (rig counts), Primary Vision (frac spreads), state regulatory agencies (well permits), and the EIA Drilling Productivity Report (DUC wells).