Public Companies Dominate U.S. Oil and Gas Production
A new analysis shows publicly traded firms, though few in number, account for 68% of Lower 48 states oil and gas output, driven by scale and prime acreage.
Publicly traded companies produced 68% of the crude oil and natural gas in the Lower 48 U.S. states in 2025. This dominance comes despite these firms representing just 2% of the roughly 12,000 producers, according to an Enverus analysis highlighted by the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Massive scale, prime drilling locations, and advanced technologies help publicly traded oil and gas producers maintain their edge. These companies generally report lower breakeven prices than privately held competitors. Their higher-quality acreage yields more oil and gas per well, while immense size provides economies of scale that lower production costs.
Production Scale of Top Operators
The concentration of output is extreme among the largest operators. The 12 firms with the most wells constitute less than 1% of all companies. Each operates between 10,000 and over 50,000 wells, producing an average of 39,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day per well.
This stands in stark contrast to the majority of producers. Fully 64% of all operators run 10 or fewer wells. These are nearly all stripper wells, each producing less than 15 barrels of oil equivalent per day.
Regional Dominance in Key Basins
Public companies hold the highest share of production in the Appalachia and Permian regions. In Appalachia, located in the Northeast United States, public firms produce nearly five times as much oil and natural gas as private companies. They achieve this while accounting for only 1% of the active operators there.
The pattern is similar in the Permian region of Texas and New Mexico. Public companies represent just 3% of active operators but collectively produce four times the output of private firms.
The Haynesville Outlier
The natural gas-rich Haynesville region, straddling Texas and Louisiana, is a notable exception. It is the only major U.S. producing region where private companies account for the majority of oil and natural gas production, at 55%.
Production in the Haynesville is concentrated among the largest private producers. The top five private natural gas operators alone produced 38% of the region's natural gas output, or 5.8 billion cubic feet per day. Similarly, the top five private crude oil producers accounted for 30% of the region's crude oil production, which was 10,000 barrels per day.
