Mewbourne ranked #2 private producer in US
Levi Hill/News-Sun
Coming on the heels of the purchase of 22 acres of land to expand its operations in Hobbs, Tyler, Texas-based Mewbourne Oil Company was recently ranked the second most prolific private oil and gas producing company in the country by Enverus Intelligence Research.
The list looks at the 100 most prolific private oil and gas producers in the country based on gross operated production, well count and rig movements in 2024.
Continental oil company took the top spot, producing 706,974 barrels of oil a day equivalent in 2025 with 5,274 wells and 14 active rigs.
Mewbourne produced 575,339 barrels of oil a day equivalent with 4,002 wells and 21 active rigs.
“This year’s top 100 list reflects a private operator landscape that’s been shaped by the drastic consolidation of operators over the last two years,” said Shawn Stuart, principal analyst at Enverus. “The remaining privates are more geographically diverse than ever before, and new entrants are having to be opportunistic on acquisitions as core plays consolidate… A macro environment has created near-term headwinds for private companies to grow, but once things stabilize there is significant private capital that has been raised and is ready to hunt for new opportunities.”
Mewbourne, founded in 1965, coordinates its operations in the Permian Basin from offices in Midland and Hobbs.
Mewbourne Oil is already building an $11 million facility on existing land in Hobbs and recently purchased 21.75 acres for $1.21 million from the City of Hobbs in the Hobbs Industrial Air Park.
Ken Waits, president and CEO of Mewbourne, was a guest speaker at the Lea County EnergyPlex conference on June 9 where he discussed the company’s status, saying Mewbourne is the second largest private oil producer in the country, running 20 drilling rigs with 4,150 wells at that time.
“If we continue growing like we are growing, we will produce half the oil in the world,” Waits said, adding that is not a goal but a metric for how much the company has grown in the past few years.
He said the company is increasing workover and completion activity.
