Every active oil and gas formation and play in Kansas — Central Kansas Uplift, Anadarko Basin, Excello-Mulky, Forest City Basin, Sedgwick Basin, Cherokee Basin, and more — ranked by well count, with the top operators and primary counties for each.
Refreshed monthly from KCC well records. Data current as of 2026-08-12.
Quick answer: The most-targeted oil and gas formations in Kansas are the Central Kansas Uplift, Anadarko Basin, Excello-Mulky, Forest City Basin and Sedgwick Basin, led by the Central Kansas Uplift with 55,584 wells on record. Ranked by well count across 11 tracked formations from Kansas Corporation Commission (KCC) well-header records (as of 2026-08-12) and refreshed monthly.
As of 2026-08-12, the most-developed Kansas formation is the Central Kansas Uplift with 55,584 wells on record, across 11 tracked formations, per Kansas Corporation Commission (KCC) well records.
Top Operators:
Murfin Drilling (1,864), Mai Oil Operations (1,295), American Warrior (1,038), Vess Oil (936), Farmer John O (919), Berexco (898), Ritchie Exploration (890), Patterson Energy (884), F G Holl Company (705), Trans Pacific Oil (701)
Primary counties: Barton, Ellis, Russell, Stafford, Rice
Top Operators:
Scout Energy Management (5,912), Eiger Operating Company, LLC (4,361), American Warrior (1,896), Anadarko Petroleum (1,453), Oxy (1,400), Edison Operating Company (933), Berexco (914), Merit Energy Company (889), Ritchie Exploration (858), Exxon Mobil (768)
Primary counties: Ness, Stevens, Finney, Morton, Haskell
Top Operators:
River Rock Operating (2,374), Redbud Oil & Gas11/Ofb (2,094), Colt Energy (1,879), Postrock Midcontinent Production (949), Kansas Energy Company (843), A & A Well Service (841), Running Foxes Petroleum (797), Dart Cherokee Basin Operating (763), Cherokee Wells (734), Jv Oil (652)
Primary counties: Montgomery, Allen, Neosho, Wilson, Chautauqua
Top Operators:
Rj Energy (4,610), Bobcat Oilfield Service (1,696), Colt Energy (1,118), Bg5 (1,083), Jtc Oil (1,003), Birk Petroleum (1,001), Southern Community (978), Town Oil Company (915), Kansas Resource Exploration & Development (891), Altavista Energy (889)
Primary counties: Miami, Anderson, Franklin, Linn, Coffey
Top Operators:
R & B Oil & Gas (450), Sandridge Exploration & Production (350), Pickrell Drilling Company (341), Herman L Loeb (335), Val Energy (317), Bcemach Iii LLC (299), Chieftain Oil (284), Bear Petroleum (278), Atlas Operating (276), Trek Aec (265)
Primary counties: Barber, Sumner, Mc Pherson, Kingman, Sedgwick
Top Operators:
Laymon Oil Ii (1,140), Rj Energy (921), Colt Energy (811), Trimble & Maclaskey Oil (594), Owens Petroleum (455), Warhorse Petroleum INC (357), Altavista Energy (323), 325 Energy Operations, LLC (276), Jackson Brothers (259), Tremo (251)
Primary counties: Greenwood, Woodson, Allen, Chautauqua, Bourbon
Top Operators:
Range Oil Company (777), Vess Oil (768), Oxy (584), Anstine & Musgrove (234), Crown Energy Company (189), Benson Mineral Group (188), Aztec Oil Operating LLC (168), Bear Petroleum (165), Mwk Petroleum Company (157), Phillips Petroleum Company (154)
Primary counties: Butler, Cowley, Chase, Morris, Nemaha
Top Operators:
Murfin Drilling (409), Gore Oil Company (88), Downingnelson Oil (64), Berexco (53), Ritchie Exploration (41), Carmen Schmitt (38), Raymond Oil Company (38), Brito Oil Company (35), Grand Mesa Operating Company (35), Arcadian Resources (32)
Primary counties: Rawlins, Thomas, Cheyenne, Sherman, Sheridan
Top Operators:
Own Resources Operating (505), Murfin Drilling (238), Smith Oil & Gas (191), Rosewood Resources (161), Lobo Production (159), Pdc Energy (133), Noble Energy (118), Priority Oil & Gas (41), Rockin G Energy (35), Foundation Energy Management (35)
Primary counties: Cheyenne, Sherman, Rawlins, Thomas, Sheridan
Top Operators:
Natural Gas Pipeline CO Of America (104), Bruce Oil Company (71), Casebeer (50), Northern Natural Gas Company (49), Shields Oil Producers (47), Scotts Production (47), Brungardt Oil And Leasing (46), Tom Brown (41), Range Oil Company (37), Berexco (34)
Primary counties: Saline, Osborne, Dickinson, Clay, Lincoln
Top Operators:
Kansas Energy Company (12), Roadrunner Energy (2), Mc C Oil Company (2), Mcgowan Oil Company A General (1), Sierra Drilling Company (1), Wilmax Company (1), Yale Oil Association (1), Walls Charles (1), Hamp Oil (1), Admiral Bay (1)
Primary counties: Chautauqua, Cowley, Labette, Montgomery
Source: Kansas Corporation Commission (KCC) well-header records, aggregated by primary play / interpreted formation / basin.
Threshold: Only formations with at least 50 wells are listed (excludes one-off wildcat plays).
Why it matters: Knowing which formation underlies your tract — and which operators are actively drilling that formation — is the foundation of mineral-rights valuation. Stacked-pay plays carry materially different upside than mature single-bench plays.
Refresh cadence: Monthly. Data current as of 2026-08-12.
Cite this dataset
Permanently archived and citable via a DOI on Zenodo (CERN), under a CC BY 4.0 license. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.21442884 · View on Zenodo
License & attribution: This data is licensed CC BY 4.0. You are free to share and adapt it, including commercially, provided you credit “Buckhead Energy” and link back to this page or the DOI above.
The most-developed formations and plays in Kansas are the Central Kansas Uplift, Anadarko Basin, Excello-Mulky, Forest City Basin and Sedgwick Basin, among others. This directory tracks 11 active formations ranked by well count, per Kansas Corporation Commission (KCC) records.
The Central Kansas Uplift has the most wells on record in Kansas — 55,584 wells, worked by 2,361 active operators, per KCC well-header data. This is a well-count ranking, not a reserves or value ranking.
The most active operators in the Central Kansas Uplift are Murfin Drilling, Mai Oil Operations, American Warrior, Vess Oil, Farmer John O. Each formation card below lists its top operators by well count.
About 1,878 drilling permits were filed across the tracked Kansas formations in the last 24 months, per KCC records — a rough measure of where new activity is concentrated.
Your deed and county records determine which formations your mineral rights cover; a tract can own multiple stacked formations. Buckhead Energy can check the geology under your tract against current well and permit data and put a free, no-obligation written offer in writing — this directory is informational only, not a valuation.
The geology under your tract drives your valuation. Get a free written offer based on your specific formation and county.
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Sell Your Kansas Mineral Rights
State: Kansas
Active formations: 11
Total wells: 260,891
Recent permits: 1,878
Last refresh: 2026-08-12
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