The number of original drilling permits issued by the Texas Railroad Commission (RRC) in June was less than a third of the amount issued about a year earlier, data show.

The RRC said July 6 it issued 312 drilling permits in June, compared to 1,001 in June 2019.

The latest figures include 262 permits to drill new oil or gas wells, more than half of which were for wells in the Midland district. Three permits were to reenter plugged wellbores and 21 were for recompletions of existing wellbores.

The well type breakdown was 72 oil, 24 gas, 187 oil or gas, 24 injection and 5 other permits, according to the RRC.

Commission staff in June processed 1,031 oil, 371 gas and 60 injection completions for new drills, re-entries and re-completions, compared to 632 oil, 182 gas, and 63 injection completions in June 2019.

Total well completions processed so far this year for new drills, re-entries and re-completions are 7,930. That’s up from the 5,050 recorded during the same period in 2019.