What changed
In 2012, the typical new horizontal well in the DJ Basin reached about one mile. By 2024 it reached about two and a third miles.
A standard section is one mile on a side. A well that reaches one mile can stay inside a single section. A well that reaches two and a half miles cannot, so it runs beneath the section where it starts and two or more sections beyond.
Length by year
Horizontal reach of new wells, by year spud
Line: median well. Shading: the middle half of wells. Feet.
2025 is incomplete: wells are added as their surveys are filed.
Source: ECMC directional survey and well data (August 2026); BLM survey sections. Calculated from wellbore paths.
Lengths grew fastest between 2014 and 2018, when the median went from about 6,200 feet to about 10,900. Since 2021 the median has stayed above 11,500 feet, and a quarter of new wells reach more than 13,000.
Sections crossed
Share of new wells by number of sections crossed
Counts every section the wellbore passes beneath, including the one where it starts.
Source: ECMC directional survey and well data (August 2026); BLM survey sections. Calculated from wellbore paths.
New horizontal wells, by year spud
Source: ECMC directional survey and well data (August 2026).
Show the numbers as a table
Why it matters for title
A horizontal well produces along its length. The lands it runs beneath are usually combined into a single unit, and the owners in that unit share in production. Before the well is drilled, the operator needs to know who owns the minerals across all of those lands.
Each section can hold several tracts, each with its own chain of title. A well that crosses one section may involve a handful of chains. A well that crosses three or four sections can involve many more, along with more leases to confirm, more owners to find, and more entries on the division order when production starts.
The From Courthouse to Royalty Check guide shows where title work falls in a well's timeline, and the royalty decimal lesson shows how unit size enters each owner's decimal.
How this was measured
- Wells: horizontal wellbores with an actual (not planned) directional survey in the ECMC directional-lines download, in the 16 DJ Basin counties, joined to spud dates in the ECMC wells download. 12,222 wells spud from 2010 on; the longest path is used when a well has more than one.
- Horizontal reach: the map length of the wellbore path, from the surface location to the end. It includes the distance from the pad to the start of the lateral, so it runs somewhat longer than the lateral itself.
- Sections crossed: the BLM survey sections the path passes beneath, checked every 100 feet. As a check, the section at each well's surface location matches the section ECMC records for that well in 98.8% of cases; most of the rest differ only in formatting.
- Data date: ECMC downloads from August 24, 2026. 2025 is incomplete.