Continental Resources, Mewbourne Oil and Aethon Energy lead annual list tracking production scale and year-over-year movement
AUSTIN, Texas, July 1, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Enverus, the leading energy data analytics platform, has released its annual list of the 100 most prolific private oil and gas producers in the U.S.
Continental Resources held the No. 1 position with 707 Mboe/d of production, followed by Mewbourne Oil at No. 2 with 575 Mboe/d and Aethon Energy at No. 3 with 443 Mboe/d, according to Enverus. The ranking also includes oil production, natural gas production, well counts, primary regions, last year's rank and 1Q26 average rigs.
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. 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.
"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," said Drew Depoe, senior analyst at Enverus Intelligence® Research.
The list includes a breakdown of liquids and gas production, total company well counts, recent rig programs and comparison to rankings from the previous year. It was released in Upstream Pulse, a bi-monthly Enverus Intelligence® Publications report delivering upstream research and market analysis covering exploration and production, deals and capital markets for the North American and global oil and gas sector.
Key takeaways:
- Continental Resources ranked No. 1 with 706,974 boe/d of production, 354,022 bbl/d of liquids and 2,117,638 Mcf/d of natural gas.
- Mewbourne Oil ranked No. 2 with 575,339 boe/d of production and a 1Q26 average of 21 rigs, the highest rig average among the top three operators.
- Aethon Energy ranked No. 3 with the largest natural gas production of 2,654,744 Mcf/d.
- The top five include operators primarily associated with the Rockies, Permian and Gulf Coast regions.
- The full ranking tracks production, liquids and natural gas mix, well count, primary region, prior-year rank direction and 1Q26 average rigs.
About Enverus
Enverus is the energy industry's AI and data platform, serving more than 8,000 energy companies across 50 countries. 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. Enverus is 100% dedicated to energy. Learn more at Enverus.com.
SOURCE Enverus
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