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The Utah Oil & Gas Formations & Plays Directory

Every active oil and gas formation and play in Utah — Mesaverde-Wasatch, Paradox Basin, Uinta Basin, Manning Canyon, Hermosa, Mancos, and more — ranked by well count, with the top operators and primary counties for each.

Refreshed monthly from DOGM well records. Data current as of 2026-08-23.

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Quick answer: The most-targeted oil and gas formations in Utah are the Mesaverde-Wasatch, Paradox Basin, Uinta Basin, Manning Canyon and Hermosa, led by the Mesaverde-Wasatch with 26,656 wells on record. Ranked by well count across 12 tracked formations from Utah Division of Oil, Gas & Mining (DOGM) well-header records (as of 2026-08-23) and refreshed monthly.

Original Data As of 2026-08-23

As of 2026-08-23, the most-developed Utah formation is the Mesaverde-Wasatch with 26,656 wells on record, across 12 tracked formations, per Utah Division of Oil, Gas & Mining (DOGM) well records.

Mesaverde-Wasatch
Most-developed formation
26,656 wells
Wells on record in that formation
12
Formations tracked
Source: Utah Division of Oil, Gas & Mining (DOGM) well-header records
Methodology: Formations ranked by well count from DOGM well-header records; active operators and recent permits are aggregated per formation.
Updated: Refreshed monthly — data current as of 2026-08-23
Active Formations
12
Total Wells
40,149
Total Lateral
2,216 miles
Recent Permits (24mo)
1,237

Mesaverde-Wasatch

26,656 wells 376 active operators 1,257 miles of lateral 0 permits (24mo)

Top Operators:

Koda Gnb, LLC (3,472), Scout Energy Management (3,072), Berry Petroleum Company (1,925), Koda Uinta, LLC (1,539), Kerr Mcgee Oil & Gas Onshore (1,495), Greylock Production (1,467), Ovintiv USA INC (1,121), Uinta Wax Operating LLC (1,053), Finley Resources (877), Crescent Energy Operating, LLC (705)

Primary counties: Uintah, Duchesne, Carbon, Grand, Wasatch

Paradox Basin

5,070 wells 732 active operators 46 miles of lateral 6 permits (24mo)

Top Operators:

Elk Operating Company (832), Wesgra (191), Star Oil Operating Company LLC (136), Harken Energy (121), Orphanno Responsible Operator (107), Superior Oil Company (104), Mobil Oil (97), Texaco (86), Running Foxes Petroleum (82), US Oil & Gas (80)

Primary counties: San Juan, Grand, Emery, Garfield, Wayne

Uinta Basin

3,276 wells 217 active operators 827 miles of lateral 1,229 permits (24mo)

Top Operators:

Koda Uinta, LLC (749), Sm Energy Company (334), Fourpoint Resources, LLC (310), Uinta Wax Operating LLC (258), Koda Gnb, LLC (223), Scout Energy Management (153), Finley Resources (129), Anschutz Exploration (102), Crescent Energy Operating, LLC (101), Wem Operating LLC (88)

Primary counties: Uintah, Duchesne, Daggett, Carbon, Wasatch

Manning Canyon

1,613 wells 131 active operators 13 miles of lateral 0 permits (24mo)

Top Operators:

Urban Oil & Gas Group (905), Conocophillips Company (142), Xto Energy (85), Coastal Plains Energy (40), Kerr Mcgee Oil & Gas Onshore (24), Orphanno Responsible Operator (23), Texas Eastern Transmission (20), River Gas (17), Whitmar Exploration Company (16), Bill Barrett (14)

Primary counties: Carbon, Emery, Uintah

Hermosa

803 wells 254 active operators 37 miles of lateral 1 permits (24mo)

Top Operators:

Wesco Operating (69), Union Oil CO Of California (31), American Helium Operating LLC (25), Delta Petroleum (22), Crownquest Operating (19), Fidelity E And P Company (17), Orphanno Responsible Operator (17), Wexpro Company (15), Megadon Enterprises (13), Paradox Upstream (13)

Primary counties: San Juan, Grand, Emery

Mancos

754 wells 138 active operators 8 miles of lateral 0 permits (24mo)

Top Operators:

Urban Oil & Gas Group (43), Enduring Resources (37), Pioneer Natural Resources (36), Orphanno Responsible Operator (34), Leif Exploration, LLC (30), Xto Energy (30), Anadarko Petroleum (26), Price River Energy LLC (20), J W Operating Company (18), Marion Energy (17)

Primary counties: Uintah, Carbon, Grand, Emery, Sanpete

Mancos-Dakota

680 wells 85 active operators 4 miles of lateral 0 permits (24mo)

Top Operators:

Arb Energy Utah LLC (119), Utah Gas Op (58), National Fuel Gas Supply (37), Txo Production (34), Beartooth Oil & Gas Company (31), Medallion Exploration (28), Enduring Resources (25), Retamco Operating (21), Coseka Resources (21), Hancock Burton W (21)

Primary counties: Grand, Uintah

Central Western Overthrust

437 wells 68 active operators 13 miles of lateral 0 permits (24mo)

Top Operators:

Amoco Production Company (88), North Shore Exploration & Production (56), American Quasar Petroleum Company (38), Citation Oil & Gas (33), Rme Petroleum Company (29), Mountain West Oil Company (21), Anschutz (17), Quaneco (16), Exxon Mobil (12), Champlin Petroleum Company (11)

Primary counties: Summit, Rich, Morgan

South Western Overthrust

415 wells 190 active operators 2 miles of lateral 0 permits (24mo)

Top Operators:

Utacal Oil Company (27), Diamond Oil Company (21), Utah Parks Petroleum Company (13), Chevron (12), 5m Incorporated (11), Bardwell E R (10), Placid Oil Company (10), Burnham Oil Company (8), Zion Crude Oil Company (7), Toney W W (7)

Primary counties: Washington, Millard, Utah, Juab, Iron

Overthrust&Wasatch Uplift

237 wells 104 active operators 9 miles of lateral 0 permits (24mo)

Top Operators:

Wolverine Gas & Oil Company Of Utah (59), Wolverine Operations (9), Uinta Wax Operating LLC (7), Mountain Fuel Supply Company (6), Phillips Petroleum Company (6), Amoco Production Company (4), Dosecc (4), Wem Petroleum (4), Chandler & Associates (4), Warner Valley Oil (3)

Primary counties: Sevier, Sanpete, Cache, Davis, Salt Lake

Great Basin Province

162 wells 57 active operators 1 miles of lateral 1 permits (24mo)

Top Operators:

Amoco Production Company (18), Utah Petrochemical (12), Premier Technology (10), Lab Energy (9), Orphanno Responsible Operator (8), Stoddard Drilling Company (8), Pixley Kenneth (7), Liberty Pioneer Energy Source (7), Chemical Oil (5), Southern Community (5)

Primary counties: Box Elder, Tooele, Uintah

Plateau Sedimentary Prov

46 wells 31 active operators 0 miles of lateral 0 permits (24mo)

Top Operators:

Legend Energy (7), Houston Oil & Gas (3), Mcdermott J R (3), Burnett Oil (2), G C Bingham (2), Tenneco Oil Company (2), Pan American Petroleum (2), Conocophillips Company (2), Amerada Hess (1), Tidewater (1)

Primary counties: Kane

About This Data

Source: Utah Division of Oil, Gas & Mining (DOGM) 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 2026-08-23.

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 Utah?

The most-developed formations and plays in Utah are the Mesaverde-Wasatch, Paradox Basin, Uinta Basin, Manning Canyon and Hermosa, among others. This directory tracks 12 active formations ranked by well count, per Utah Division of Oil, Gas & Mining (DOGM) records.

Which formation has the most wells in Utah?

The Mesaverde-Wasatch has the most wells on record in Utah — 26,656 wells, worked by 376 active operators, per DOGM well-header data. This is a well-count ranking, not a reserves or value ranking.

Who operates in the Mesaverde-Wasatch in Utah?

The most active operators in the Mesaverde-Wasatch are Koda Gnb, LLC, Scout Energy Management, Berry Petroleum Company, Koda Uinta, LLC, Kerr McGee Oil & Gas Onshore. Each formation card below lists its top operators by well count.

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

About 1,237 drilling permits were filed across the tracked Utah formations in the last 24 months, per DOGM records — a rough measure of where new activity is concentrated.

How do I find out if I own minerals in a Utah 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 Minerals?

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

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Quick Stats

State: Utah

Active formations: 12

Total wells: 40,149

Recent permits: 1,237

Last refresh: 2026-08-23

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