Who Are the Most Prolific Private Oil, Gas Producers in USA?
In a release sent to Rigzone recently, Enverus announced that it has published its annual list of “the 100 most prolific private oil and gas producers in the United States”.
The complete list, which is titled Top 100 Private Lower 48 Producers of 2025 and was accessed by Rigzone, placed Continental Resources in first, Mewbourne Oil in second, Aethon Energy in third, Ascent Resources LLC in fourth, and Hilcorp in fifth.
Continental Resources produced 706,974 barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2025, and had a well count of 5,274 and 14 active rigs, the complete list revealed. Mewbourne Oil produced 575,339 barrels of oil equivalent per day, and had a well count of 4,002 and 21 active rigs, and Aethon Energy produced 442,744 barrels of oil equivalent per day, and had a well count of 1,834 and six active rigs, the list showed.
Ascent Resources LLC had an output of 416,611 barrels of oil equivalent per day, a well count of 984, and four active rigs, and Hilcorp produced 311,871 barrels of oil equivalent per day, and had a well count of 25,804 and two active rigs, according to the list.
Two of the top five companies, Continental and Hilcorp, had the Rockies listed as their “Primary Enverus Region” in Enverus’ latest list. Mewbourne’s region was listed as the Permian, Aethon’s was listed as the Gulf Coast, and Ascent’s was listed as the Eastern United States.
In 2024, Continental ranked first, Mewbourne was second, Aethon was third, Ascent was fourth, and Hilcorp was fifth, the latest list highlighted. Enverus’ previous list, which was released last year, pointed out that, in 2023, Continental ranked first, Mewbourne was fourth, Aethon was third, Ascent was second, and Hilcorp was sixth.
“This year’s list reflects continued movement across the private operator landscape, with operators from the Rockies, Permian, Eastern U.S., Gulf Coast and Mid-Continent represented throughout the ranking,” Enverus said in its statement.
“Among the top five, there were no changes in comparison to last year with Ascent Resources LLC at No. 4 and Hilcorp at No. 5. Flywheel Energy rose to No. 6 from No. 21,” it added.
In this statement, Drew Depoe, Senior Analyst at Enverus Intelligence Research, said, “we are in the opening innings of another cycle of private capital deployment, with funded teams aiming to build new positions and carve out assets from publics following the consolidation wave of the past few years”.
“Private operators drive a significant share of U.S. upstream activity, yet much of it stays off the radar. This year’s Top 100 list gives investors and operators a clearer read on the current private landscape,” Depoe added.
Enverus noted in its list that production and ranking for 2025 include all gross operated production from assets and companies acquired up to and including December 31, 2025, as accounted for in Enverus PRISM. Transactions announced in 2025 but not completed until 2026, including acquisitions and IPOs, are not accounted for in the rankings, Enverus highlighted in the list.
Enverus also pointed out in its list that liquids production includes condensate and that “Primary Enverus Region” refers to the region with the highest contribution to production and ranking in the table, not necessarily for the company as a whole. Numbers are also subject to change because of lags in reporting, Enverus said in its list.
Rigzone has contacted Continental Resources, Mewbourne Oil, Aethon Energy, Ascent Resources LLC, Hilcorp, and the American Petroleum Institute for comment on Enverus’ list and release. At the time of writing, none of the above have responded to Rigzone.
Enverus describes itself in its statement as the energy industry’s AI and data platform, “serving more than 8,000 energy companies across 50 countries”. The company notes in its statement that it is “built on 25+ years of proprietary intelligence - 2.7 petabytes of continuously updated data, 350 million+ courthouse records, and $500 billion+ in annual transaction covering the full energy value chain across upstream, midstream, power, renewables, utilities, and capital markets”.
To contact the author, email andreas.exarheas@rigzone.com
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