(817) 778-9532

Oklahoma Formations & Plays Directory

Every active oil and gas formation and play in Oklahoma — SCOOP, STACK, Woodford, Mississippi Lime, Cherokee Platform, Hunton, Granite Wash, and more — ranked by well count, with the top operators and primary counties for each.

Refreshed monthly from OCC well records. Data current as of 2026-08-02.

Get a Free Offer on Your Oklahoma Minerals

Quick answer: The most-targeted oil and gas formations in Oklahoma are the Chautauqua Platform, Anadarko Basin, Woodford, South Oklahoma Folded Belt and Excello-Mulky, led by the Chautauqua Platform with 97,497 wells on record. Ranked by well count across 13 tracked formations from Oklahoma Corporation Commission (OCC) well-header records (as of 2026-08-02) and refreshed monthly.

Active Formations
13
Total Wells
329,164
Total Lateral
35,407 miles
Recent Permits (24mo)
1,537

Chautauqua Platform

97,497 wells 6,778 active operators 4,150 miles of lateral 307 permits (24mo)

Top Operators:

State Fund Plugging (1,795), Great Horned Owls, LLC (1,357), Snr Operating LLC (1,063), Circle 9 Resources (890), New Dominion (770), Chesapeake Energy (575), Conocophillips Company (523), Chevron (509), Marjo Operating (446), Krumme Oil Company LLP (430)

Primary counties: Creek, Osage, Okmulgee, Seminole, Lincoln

Anadarko Basin

85,916 wells 3,155 active operators 15,214 miles of lateral 934 permits (24mo)

Top Operators:

Chesapeake Energy (4,302), Diversified Production LLC (2,804), Bcemach (2,241), Sandridge Exploration & Production (1,995), Latigo Oil & Gas (1,468), Bcemach Iii LLC (1,396), Merit Energy Company (1,274), Eog Resources (1,076), Continental Resources (1,055), Dominion OK TX E & P (965)

Primary counties: Texas, Beaver, Garfield, Kingfisher, Major

Woodford

35,419 wells 1,819 active operators 6,882 miles of lateral 14 permits (24mo)

Top Operators:

Citation Oil & Gas (3,560), Devon Energy Production Company (953), Fw Midcon I, LLC (892), Mack Energy Company (819), Daylight Petroleum (800), Stephens & Johnson Operating Company (786), Continental Resources (772), Kodiak Oil & Gas (675), Xto Energy (670), Validus Energy Ii Midcon LLC (571)

Primary counties: Carter, Stephens, Grady, Canadian, Blaine

South Oklahoma Folded Belt

34,316 wells 2,232 active operators 1,970 miles of lateral 214 permits (24mo)

Top Operators:

Citation Oil & Gas (3,909), Xto Energy (850), Conocophillips Company (642), Wildhorse Operating Company (629), Le Jones Operating (461), Magnolia Petroleum Company (451), Chesapeake Energy (448), Phoenix Petrocorp (397), Lewis Oil Operations (347), Mack Energy Company (333)

Primary counties: Stephens, Garvin, Carter, Cotton, Comanche

Excello-Mulky

29,313 wells 2,167 active operators 142 miles of lateral 1 permits (24mo)

Top Operators:

State Fund Plugging (2,055), Gateway Resources (1,773), Endeavor Energy Resources (859), Rocky Roads Operating LLC (576), Exxon Mobil (569), Comdisco Resources (496), Performance Operating (416), Bratco Operating Company (390), Bullseye Operating (387), Entransco Energy (356)

Primary counties: Nowata, Washington, Tulsa, Osage, Creek

Arkoma Basin

19,243 wells 1,155 active operators 1,967 miles of lateral 59 permits (24mo)

Top Operators:

Merit Energy Company (1,175), Citation Oil & Gas (1,175), Bpx Operating Company (1,086), Abundance Energy Services LLC (864), Ew Operating OK, LLC (548), Chesapeake Energy (482), Mustang Fuel (316), Stephens Production Company (313), Bear Production (283), Paluca Petroleum (255)

Primary counties: Pontotoc, Latimer, Haskell, Le Flore, Pittsburg

Woodford-Caney

12,559 wells 1,274 active operators 2,660 miles of lateral 0 permits (24mo)

Top Operators:

Trinity Operating Usg (851), Abundance Energy Services LLC (717), Tag Team Resources (399), Foundation Energy Management (385), Merit Energy Company (375), Arkoma Resources (367), Santa Fe Operating, LLC (360), Ovintiv USA INC (180), Chesapeake Energy (152), Wentworth Operating Company (145)

Primary counties: Hughes, Pittsburg, Mc Intosh, Coal, Okfuskee

Granite Wash

6,491 wells 639 active operators 1,162 miles of lateral 0 permits (24mo)

Top Operators:

Unbridled Resources LLC (471), Diversified Production LLC (283), Bcemach Ii LLC (272), Presidio Petroleum (254), Bcemach Iii LLC (249), Chesapeake Energy (189), Kaiserfrancis Oil Company (180), Shell Oil Company (162), Burlington Resources Oil & Gas Company (109), Apache (104)

Primary counties: Kiowa, Beckham, Washita, Roger Mills, Greer

Red Fork

4,554 wells 372 active operators 833 miles of lateral 0 permits (24mo)

Top Operators:

Diversified Production LLC (520), Presidio Petroleum (452), Unbridled Resources LLC (216), Teocalli Exploration LLC (213), Bcemach Iii LLC (179), Apache (167), Chesapeake Energy (157), Mustang Fuel (146), Burlington Resources Oil & Gas Company (102), Mewbourne Oil Company (101)

Primary counties: Roger Mills, Custer, Beckham, Dewey, Washita

Palo Duro Basin

2,578 wells 513 active operators 45 miles of lateral 5 permits (24mo)

Top Operators:

Red River Petroleum (137), Fulcrum Exploration (121), Oxy (65), Weinkauf Petroleum (57), Eog Resources (49), Burk Royalty (47), Ac Operating Company (43), Keith F Walker Oil & Gas (42), Glb Exploration (41), Buck Creek Energy (35)

Primary counties: Tillman, Cimarron, Jackson, Harmon, Greer

Ouachita Folded Belt

731 wells 198 active operators 131 miles of lateral 3 permits (24mo)

Top Operators:

Longfellow Energy (58), Chesapeake Energy (56), Sanguine Gas Exploration (37), The Ghk Company LLC (34), Western Oil & Gas Dev Company (28), Finley Resources (24), Canyon Creek Energy Texas (21), Trinity Operating Usg (19), Xto Energy (16), Antero Resources (12)

Primary counties: Atoka, Bryan, Mc Curtain, Pushmataha, Choctaw

Cleveland

498 wells 90 active operators 247 miles of lateral 0 permits (24mo)

Top Operators:

Mewbourne Oil Company (92), Unbridled Resources LLC (89), Be Anadarko Ii LLC (58), Unit Petroleum Company (33), Diversified Production LLC (24), Jones Energy (22), Presidio Petroleum (12), Strat Land Exploration Company (12), Chesapeake Energy (9), Samson Resources Company (6)

Primary counties: Ellis, Beaver

Fort Worth Syncline

49 wells 2 active operators 3 miles of lateral 0 permits (24mo)

Top Operators:

K S & S Oil Company (48), Lofton W (1)

Primary counties: Jefferson, Love

About This Data

Source: Oklahoma Corporation Commission 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 plays (SCOOP/STACK Woodford + Mississippian) carry materially different upside than single-bench mature plays.

Refresh cadence: Monthly. Data current as of 2026-08-02.

Download: CSV · JSON — free to reuse under CC BY 4.0.

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

Citation (plain text)
BibTeX (machine-readable)

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.

Frequently Asked Questions

What oil and gas formations are targeted in Oklahoma?

The most-developed formations and plays in Oklahoma are the Chautauqua Platform, Anadarko Basin, Woodford, South Oklahoma Folded Belt and Excello-Mulky, among others. This directory tracks 13 active formations ranked by well count, per Oklahoma Corporation Commission (OCC) records.

Which formation has the most wells in Oklahoma?

The Chautauqua Platform has the most wells on record in Oklahoma — 97,497 wells, worked by 6,778 active operators, per OCC well-header data. This is a well-count ranking, not a reserves or value ranking.

Who operates in the Chautauqua Platform in Oklahoma?

The most active operators in the Chautauqua Platform are State Fund Plugging, Great Horned Owls, LLC, Snr Operating LLC, Circle 9 Resources, New Dominion. Each formation card below lists its top operators by well count.

How many drilling permits were filed across Oklahoma formations in the last 24 months?

About 1,537 drilling permits were filed across the tracked Oklahoma formations in the last 24 months, per OCC records — a rough measure of where new activity is concentrated.

How do I find out if I own minerals in a Oklahoma formation?

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.

Know What Formation Underlies Your Oklahoma Minerals?

The geology under your tract drives your valuation. Get a free written offer based on your specific formation and county.

Get Your Free Mineral Valuation

Quick Stats

State: Oklahoma

Active formations: 13

Total wells: 329,164

Recent permits: 1,537

Last refresh: 2026-08-02

Ready to Sell?

Free written offers on Oklahoma mineral rights — across every active formation.

Get Your Free Offer