The 1926 Hendrick Field discovery in Winkler County, Texas, was one of the earliest Permian Basin fields — established alongside the same-year Yates discovery and notable for establishing the deep Ordovician Ellenburger basement reservoir as a Permian play target.
Quick answer
County: Winkler County, Texas
Year of discovery: 1926
Producing formations: Permian carbonates AND Ordovician Ellenburger basement
Geological significance: Established the Ellenburger basement reservoir play in the Permian Basin
Era: Same year as the Yates discovery; both opened the Permian
Historical rank: #13 (honorable mention)
The 1926 Hendrick Field discovery in Winkler County, Texas, came in the same year as the more famous Yates discovery in Pecos County. Together, the two 1926 finds opened the Permian Basin to large-scale exploration and development.
While Yates produced the bulk of the early-Permian press attention because of its sheer scale (200,000 productive acres on the Central Basin Platform), Hendrick was geologically equally important. Hendrick demonstrated that the Permian Basin had producible reservoirs at multiple stratigraphic levels — not just the shallow Permian carbonates that Yates opened, but also the much deeper Ordovician Ellenburger basement.
The Ordovician Ellenburger Group is the deepest commercially productive reservoir interval across most of the Permian Basin. It sits at the bottom of the Permian sedimentary section, directly above Precambrian basement rock. Hendrick’s success at producing from the Ellenburger established the deep-basement play that would later host major productive trends across West Texas, including:
Wheeler Co. / Texas Panhandle — subsequent Ellenburger gas plays
Reagan / Crockett — deep Ellenburger oil pools
Modern Ellenburger gas-injection EOR programs across multiple Permian Basin counties
For mineral owners on the Hendrick Field or in surrounding Winkler County:
Inheritance is typically 3-4 generations deep. Original 1926-1935 lease bonus money is now received by great-grandchildren of the original Winkler County signers.
Multi-formation production is common. Hendrick-area leases may produce from both shallow Permian carbonates and deep Ellenburger reservoirs — affecting decimal interest calculations across multiple producing horizons.
Modern Permian horizontal activity in Winkler County may add value to historic mineral interests through new horizontal completions in shallower zones.
Operator quality varies across Winkler County; check the operator-of-record on your specific lease for valuation context.
If your mineral interest traces back to the 1926 Hendrick Field discovery or its associated boom-era leases, Buckhead Energy can value the future cash flow stream and provide a free written offer with no obligation. Out-of-state owners are common; we handle the entire process remotely.
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