Key takeaways
- The Delaware and Midland sub-basins can show different operators, geology, timing, and economics.
- Texas and New Mexico records should be handled through separate data adapters.
- New Mexico states that C-115 production data has a 45-day lag and that many reports update nightly.
- Texas production may be reported at the lease level, complicating well-level comparisons.
- Permian-wide rigs or frac spreads provide context; county, operator, unit, and well evidence drives relevance.
Locate the interest precisely
Record the state, county, legal description, survey/section-block or township-range-section description, gross acres, ownership fraction, depths, lease, and operator/payor. Identify whether the tract is in the Midland Basin, Delaware Basin, Central Basin Platform, or another Permian area. Marketing labels are not substitutes for legal descriptions.
Use the correct official records
For Texas, use Railroad Commission well, permit, GIS, production, and filing resources, while understanding that production can be reported by lease. For New Mexico, use OCD well search, permitting, production, statistics, geospatial, and public-download resources. Store the official identifier and source date with every normalized record.
Interpret activity as a pipeline
Review permits, spuds, rigs, completion activity, DUCs, first production, and reported volumes as separate stages. Validate any commercial provider’s basin allocation before publishing it. Pair activity with operator filings and infrastructure, then explain what the signal can and cannot imply for a specific tract.
Owner workflows
A producing owner should reconcile statements, decimals, deductions, and adjustments with the lease/unit and official production. A leased but undeveloped owner should monitor permits, units, nearby wells, and lease-maintenance provisions. An unleased owner should understand title, local activity, competing proposals, and state-specific lease terms before negotiating.
Practical checklist
- Identify state, county, sub-basin, legal description, depths, and lease.
- Match the operator, well/API, unit, and payor across sources.
- Use the correct Texas or New Mexico regulator system.
- Display source dates, reporting lag, and revisions.
- Compare local trends instead of relying on a basin total.
- Keep title, lease, data, and valuation conclusions separate.
How Royalty Ridge fits Royalty Ridge can differentiate itself by building the best owner-friendly bridge between Texas and New Mexico records: one interface, source-specific definitions, visible lags, and explanations tied to owner decisions.
Sources and editorial notes
Texas RRC GIS Viewer: https://gis.rrc.texas.gov/GISViewer/
Texas RRC production query: https://webapps2.rrc.texas.gov/EWA/ewaMain.do
New Mexico OCD statistics: https://www.emnrd.nm.gov/ocd/ocd-data/statistics/?
New Mexico OCD data: https://www.emnrd.nm.gov/ocd/ocd-data/
EIA petroleum data: https://www.eia.gov/petroleum/data.php