State Wells, Offset Operators and Nearest Rail in the Energy Pack

The first question on most energy tracts is who is already drilling there. The Energy pack answers it from the state oil and gas commission registers for Colorado, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Wyoming and New Mexico, tied to the PLSS section you are looking at.

The five state well layers

On the map

Open the Layers panel and expand Producing states. Turn on the state you need. Wells draw as points colored by status, with one legend across all five states:

• Producing
• Permitted
• Shut-in
• Plugged
• Abandoned
• Dry hole

Each state publishes its own status codes. Township America maps them to these six groups so a Wyoming well and an Oklahoma well read the same way. If a status matters to your decision, check the code on the state record.

Click a well for its popup: well name, operator, API number, operator ID, status, well type, county, spud, completion and plug dates, total depth and lateral length. A field appears only when the state publishes it. The copy button copies the API number and the coordinates.

In search

Each state register is a search source. Open Search settings, turn on the states you need, and search by API number, well name or operator. Dataset sources run when you press Enter, not as you type.

Wells on the Energy tab

Open a parcel report for a section and select Energy. Two cards cover state wells:

• Wells in this PLSS section. Wells whose state record is tied to the same PLSS section as your parcel. This is the tighter unit for mineral work. Each row shows the API number, operator, state and status. The card appears when the parcel resolves to a PLSS section, and it says so plainly when the section has no recorded wells.
• State wells · 1 mi buffer. Wells within one mile of the section, from all five registers, with operator, state, formation where published, status and well type.

Both lists show the first ten rows and a count of the rest. Click a row to zoom the map to that well.

Offset operators

Offset operators · 1 mi buffer ranks the operators of the wells within one mile of the section by well count. It answers "who is drilling around me" in one glance.

• Click See all to open the operators directory: a searchable table of operators near the parcel, ranked by well count.
• Click an operator to open its detail view. It lists that operator's wells near this parcel, with distance, and federal leases held where the BLM record names the operator as lessee. BLM's lease records often leave the lessee blank, so an empty lease list does not mean the operator holds no federal leases.
• Use the breadcrumb at the top of the sidebar to step back to the report.

The counts are derived by Township America from the state registers, not published by an agency. An operator with many plugged wells nearby ranks the same as one with many producing wells, so read the status column before drawing conclusions.

For a wider view, the operators directory lists the top oil and gas operators on federal land.

Nearest railways

Nearest railways lists the five closest rail lines to the center of the parcel from the Federal Railroad Administration network: the rail company, the cargo type where recorded, and the distance in miles. It is crude-by-rail context for a lease or a facility site.

The distance is a straight line to the nearest track, not a route distance and not the distance to a loading terminal.

Worked example

A landman is reviewing Section 14, Township 5 North, Range 65 West, Sixth Principal Meridian, in Weld County, Colorado, ahead of a lease offer.

1. Search 14 5N 65W 6th Meridian, click Report, then open Energy.
2. Wells in this PLSS section lists the Colorado wells the state ties to Section 14. The landman notes the API numbers of the producing and permitted wells.
3. State wells · 1 mi buffer shows the offset wells. Formation and status columns show which zones are producing nearby.
4. Offset operators · 1 mi buffer ranks the operators around the section. The landman opens the top operator and checks its wells near the parcel.
5. On the map, the landman turns on Colorado Wells from Producing states and clicks a few points to confirm spud and completion dates.

From there, the API numbers go straight into the state's own well file for permits and production.

To see which townships carry the most wells before picking a section, browse the PLSS townships with oil and gas wells, or start from a state page.

Limits

• Five states. Texas wells come from the Railroad Commission and are in the Texas pack; see Texas wells, production and permits. Other states are not covered by the Energy well registers. Pro's built-in HIFLD oil and gas wells layer gives a national view.
• Section ties come from the state record. A well appears in Wells in this PLSS section when its record is tied to that section. A well with a missing or wrong location in the state file will be missing or misplaced here too.
• Surface location, not the lateral. Points mark the location the state publishes. A horizontal well can produce from under a neighboring section.
• Public records, not a survey. The data shows what the agency recorded. It does not establish who owns the minerals or where a lease boundary runs.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does a well show in the one-mile list but not in the section list?

The section list uses the PLSS section on the state record. The one-mile list uses distance. A well just across the section line appears in the buffer list only.

Can I search for every well an operator has?

Turn on the five state sources under Search settings and search the operator name. Results come from all the sources you turned on.

Are offset-operator counts limited to producing wells?

No. The count includes every well within one mile in the state registers, whatever its status. Check the status column in the well list.

Is the railway distance a driving or route distance?

No. It is the straight-line distance from the center of the parcel to the nearest track.