The number of Texas drilling permits issued in April dropped by about 50%, compared to a year earlier, to 456, the Texas Railroad Commission (RRC) said May 12.

Of the permits issued, 416 were to drill new oil and gas wells, mostly in the Midland district where companies plan to drill 263 oil and gas wells.

Well completions processed by the RRC also dropped in April. Commission staff processed 981 oil, 246 gas and 249 injection completions for new drills, re-entries and re-completions, compared to 593 oil, 143 gas, and 36 injection completions in April 2019.

So far this year, there have been 5,285 well completions processed for new drills, reentries and recompletions, compared to 3,244 during the same period last year, the RRC said.

Recent Information Technology changes are allowing the RRC to report more detailed monthly drilling permits and well completions data, the regulatory agency said, noting prior year reports may not correlate exactly to the same results on the new report.

More information is available on the RRC’s website.