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Colorado Drilling Activity Report — August 2026

Statewide permits, drilled-but-uncompleted inventory, recent spuds, newly producing wells, and the most active operators and counties — compiled monthly from Colorado Energy & Carbon Management Commission well-header records. Free to cite, quote, and embed with attribution.

Data as of · CC BY 4.0

The Month in One Sentence

As of August 1, 2026, Colorado has 351 drilling permits filed over the trailing 24 months, 29 drilled-but-uncompleted (DUC) wells in inventory, 22 wells spudded in the last 90 days, and 172 wells brought onto first production in the last six months, across 51 producing counties — per Colorado Energy & Carbon Management Commission records compiled by Buckhead Energy.

351
Permits · trailing 24 mo
29
DUC wells in inventory
22
Spudded · last 90 days
172
New producers · 6 mo
100
Active operators tracked
51
Producing counties

Most Active Operators

#OperatorWellsPermits 24moDUCs
1 Noble Energy 10,460 160 212
2 Kerrmcgee 9,786 289 123
3 Tep Rocky Mountain 9,042 64 141
4 Pdc Energy 8,530 157 277
5 Qb Energy Operating LLC 6,118 47 166

Full top-100 operator leaderboard →

Hottest Counties

#CountyRecent PermitsDUCsProducing Wells
1 Weld 1,012 2,764
2 Garfield 42 475
3 Rio Blanco 85 313
4 Yuma 0 1,115
5 Washington 7 4,466

All Colorado counties →

Methodology & Downloads

Compiled from Colorado Energy & Carbon Management Commission (ECMC) well-header and production filings: permits over a trailing 24-month window, current DUC inventory (spudded, not yet completed), spuds in the last 90 days, and wells with first production within six months. Refreshed monthly; every figure carries the as-of date above.

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Thinking of Selling Colorado Minerals?

Wondering whether to sell now? See Is now a good time to sell mineral rights in Colorado? — it ties this drilling data to the factors that decide timing, then routes to a free written offer.

Cite this report (CC BY 4.0): Buckhead Energy, "Colorado Drilling Activity Report — August 2026," compiled from Colorado Energy & Carbon Management Commission records, August 1, 2026. https://www.buckheadenergy.com/colorado-drilling-activity-report

Journalists and researchers: monthly figures, county-level breakdowns, and CSV extracts are available on request — [email protected].