The Dean sandstone is moving well beyond its earlier Dawson County core as Midland Basin operators test it across Martin, Midland, Howard, and Glasscock counties. Recent results show why interest is building. Diamondback reported 2,000-plus bbl/d IPs in Martin and Midland from mostly oil-rich Dean wells, while Ovintiv and SM Energy also posted strong Martin County results.
That makes the Dean story less about one isolated stepout and more about a broader next-zone push. As operators continue packing Spraberry and Wolfcamp laterals into the Midland Basin’s core acreage, the Dean is emerging as another stacked pay target between those better-known intervals.
The map reflects that broader operator interest. Instead of trying to isolate only a handful of named tests, it shows Dean-formation wells across the Midland Basin for the operators most central to the current push, making it easier to see where activity is already present around Martin, Midland, and Glasscock. That context matters because performance is not uniform. Diamondback, Ovintiv, and SM reported some of the stronger results, while Exxon’s Martin tests underperformed and Oxy’s Glasscock results showed more mixed oil cuts and productivity.
Why it matters
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The Dean is becoming a more serious Midland Basin stacked-pay target as operators search for additional economic inventory beyond Spraberry and Wolfcamp.
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Martin County is standing out as the strongest current concentration of Dean activity and results.
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Interest is spreading south and east into Midland, Howard, and Glasscock, showing that the play is being tested beyond its earlier core.
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Operator-by-operator variation is significant, which makes a mapped view useful for comparing where the Dean is getting the most serious follow-up.
What the map shows
A Midland Basin view of Dean-formation wells for the operators most associated with the current Dean push.
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Dean-formation wells across the Midland Basin
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Wells shown for Diamondback, Ovintiv, SM Energy, Oxy, and ExxonMobil
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County context centered on Martin, Midland, and Glasscock
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A view of where Dean activity is already present as interest expands beyond the earlier core area
A deeper dive with DataLink
Using Rextag Energy DataLink, users can:
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isolate Dean-formation wells across the Midland Basin
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compare operator footprints inside the current Dean fairway
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screen where activity is concentrated by county and operator
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export internal-ready views for upstream, geology, and basin development analysis
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