Is someone drilling
near your minerals?
Find out if operators have filed permits near your property. Search by location, county, or state. Check who is active on your acreage — and who might be calling you soon.
What a well permit means for you as a mineral owner
A well permit is the first official sign that an oil or gas company intends to drill on or near your acreage. Before any rig is set up, the operator must file a permit with the state regulatory agency — the Railroad Commission in Texas, the NDIC in North Dakota, the OCC in Oklahoma, and so on.
As a mineral rights owner, seeing a new permit filed in your county — or near your specific property — means one of two things: either an operator already has a lease on your minerals and is moving toward drilling, or a competitor is drilling nearby and your land could be next.
Permit filings typically precede actual drilling by 30 to 180 days. Watching for new permits in your area gives you advance notice before activity shows up at the surface — time to review your lease terms, consult a landman, or reach out to the operator proactively.
If you are already receiving royalty checks, new permits nearby may indicate an operator is moving into an adjacent zone or extending a horizontal lateral through your acreage. Understanding permit activity helps you verify your royalty statements are accurate and that you are not being bypassed by a directional well that crosses your minerals.
Three ways to check drilling activity near you
From free public tools to full API access — depending on how much data you need.
Free: Wells Near Me Tool
No account neededEnter your address or coordinates and see well permits filed within a specified radius. Results include the operator name, permit date, well type, and how far it is from your location. No signup required for basic lookups.
Open Wells Near Me ToolFree: State & County Permit Pages
No account neededBrowse permit activity by state and county on our free public pages. Each page shows recent permit filings, active operators, and permit counts over time. Good for a quick check without any technical setup.
API Access: Automated Monitoring
Scale plan · $299/moFor mineral owners with large or scattered acreage — across multiple counties or states — the API lets you automate monitoring. Set up a weekly query to pull new permits within a defined area, receive webhook alerts for new filings, or build a personal dashboard tracking your specific properties.
Start Free API TrialWhat each permit record includes
Structured data you can actually use — not a PDF from the state portal
# Find permits near a specific property location
curl "https://api.oilpriceapi.com/v1/drilling-intelligence/well-permits/nearby?lat=31.8742&lon=-102.1089&radius_miles=10" \
-H "Authorization: Token YOUR_API_KEY"
{
"status": "success",
"data": {
"center": { "lat": 31.8742, "lon": -102.1089 },
"radius_miles": 10,
"total_permits": 7,
"permits": [
{
"api_number": "42-329-41827-0000",
"operator": "Diamondback Energy",
"well_name": "Kelcy Warren 5H",
"county": "Midland",
"state": "TX",
"formation": "Wolfcamp B",
"well_type": "oil",
"permit_date": "2026-03-22",
"distance_miles": 2.4,
"lat": 31.8912,
"lon": -102.1340
}
]
}
}Questions from mineral rights owners
A permit was filed near my property — what does that mean?+
It means an oil or gas operator intends to drill a well in the area. The permit is the regulatory approval to drill — it does not necessarily mean the operator has a lease on your specific minerals. Check the permit's legal description and coordinates against your mineral interest legal description to determine if it is on your acreage. If it is on or adjacent to your land, the operator may already have a lease with you, or they may be drilling a directional well that passes through your subsurface.
How do I know if the permit is on my acreage specifically?+
Compare the permit's location coordinates and legal description (section, township, range) against the legal description in your mineral deed. If you don't have a clear deed description, a landman can do a title check for you. The permit record includes the approximate surface location of the wellhead — directional wells can extend horizontally for a mile or more underground, potentially crossing acreage the surface location doesn't suggest.
I'm receiving royalties — should I care about new permits?+
Yes. New permits from the same operator may indicate additional wells being drilled in your unit (infill drilling), which could increase your royalty. Permits from a different operator may indicate a competing claim or a new well in an adjacent lease. Monitoring permit activity is a good way to verify your royalty statements reflect actual drilling activity.
Can I find out what operators are active in my county without an API subscription?+
Yes — our free permit pages show operator activity by state and county. No signup required. For ongoing monitoring of specific locations or automated alerts when new permits are filed within a defined area, the Scale plan ($299/mo, the tier that includes Drilling Intelligence) is the better option.
Does this data cover shale plays and unconventional wells?+
Yes. Well permit data covers all permit types — vertical, directional, horizontal (including shale horizontals), injection, disposal, and re-entry wells. Horizontal permits in the Permian Basin, Eagle Ford, Bakken, Marcellus, and other shale plays are included and labeled with formation and well type.
Free tools + paid API access
Most mineral owners get what they need from the free tools. API access is for those with large or scattered acreage who want automated monitoring.
Free Tools
No signup required
- ✓ Wells Near Me location search
- ✓ State permit pages (all 27 configured states)
- ✓ County permit browsing
- ✓ Operator lookup by name
Scale API Plan
or $239.20/mo billed annually ($2,870.40/yr)
- ✓ Everything in the free tools
- ✓ 1,000,000 API requests/month
- ✓ Automated weekly permit queries
- ✓ Proximity search by lat/lon
- ✓ All 27 configured states in one API key
Know what's happening near your minerals
Don't wait for a landman to knock on your door. Check permit activity near your property now — for free.
Check Drilling Activity Near You — FreeNo account required for basic search · Drilling Intelligence API on the Scale plan, $299/mo