Company lists · Data refreshed September 2026
Top 25 Oil and gas exploration companies based in the United States
RevenueBase identified 1,463 oil and gas exploration companies headquartered in the United States as of September 2026 and tracks 148,381 professional contacts across them, including 37,237 with verified work emails. Houston is the largest hub.
This list covers oil and gas exploration companies headquartered in the United States, matched on what each company actually does as described in its own words. Ranked by team size, largest first. Every row shows the company's own description, its RevenueBase Smart Search rating, and when it was last checked. Data refreshed September 17, 2026.
Published by RevenueBase, a B2B data infrastructure company. This list was built with RevenueBase Smart Search, the natural-language company search RevenueBase customers use to build their own targeted lists and unlock verified emails and direct dials at the companies on them. How these lists are built and judged.
The 25 largest oil and gas exploration companies based in the United States
Ranked by team size| # | Company | Contacts | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 53,380 contacts → | ||||
Indirect evidence “We collaborate and engineer solutions to maximize asset value for our customers.” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 17, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 2 | 15,828 contacts → | ||||
Strong evidence “We are a global oil and gas company tasked with an important job-to safely find and deliver energy for the world.” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 17, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 3 | 5,489 contacts → | ||||
Strong evidence “We are an independent oil and natural gas acquisition, exploitation and exploration company.” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 17, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 4 | 4,642 contacts → | ||||
Strong evidence “Hess Corporation is a global independent energy company engaged in the exploration and production of crude oil and natural gas.” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 17, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 5 | 4,346 contacts → | ||||
Indirect evidence “EOG Resources, Inc.” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 17, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 6 | 3,514 contacts → | ||||
Strong evidence “Murphy Oil Corporation is a global independent oil and natural gas exploration and production company.” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 17, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 7 | 3,460 contacts → | ||||
Strong evidence “Anadarko is among the world’s largest independent oil and natural gas exploration and production companies, with corporate offices in The Woodlands, Texas.” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 17, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 8 | 2,755 contacts → | ||||
Indirect evidence “Headquartered in Houston, Texas, Key Energy Services provides a wide array of leading edge energy production solutions and services.” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 17, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 9 | 2,215 contacts → | ||||
Partial evidence “Oil States International, Inc.” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 17, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 10 | 2,176 contacts → | ||||
Strong evidence “SM Energy Company is an independent energy company focused on the exploration, exploitation, development, acquisition, and production of natural gas and crude oil in the United…” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 17, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 11 | 1,938 contacts → | ||||
Strong evidence “For oil & gas exploration and production companies worldwide, Superior Energy Services is an oilfield products and services company with global reach, financial stability and…” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 17, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 12 | 1,803 contacts → | ||||
Indirect evidence “Hilcorp Energy Company was founded in 1989 with the vision of being the premier independent energy company in America.” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 17, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 13 | 1,396 contacts → | ||||
Indirect evidence “We are energy.” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 17, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 14 | 1,388 contacts → | ||||
Indirect evidence “Continental Resources, Inc.” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 17, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 15 | 1,285 contacts → | ||||
Strong evidence “Cudd offers a broad range of technical and specialized oilfield services to companies engaged in the exploration and production of oil and natural gas worldwide.” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 17, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 16 | 1,155 contacts → | ||||
Indirect evidence “WE ARE NOBLE.” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 17, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 17 | 1,034 contacts → | ||||
Indirect evidence “As of May 7, 2026, Coterra has officially completed its merger with Devon Energy, marking an exciting new chapter for our organization.” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 17, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 18 | 834 contacts → | ||||
Indirect evidence “Headquartered in Houston, Texas, Geokinetics is one of the world’s largest independent land and seafloor geophysical companies.” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 17, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 19 | 770 contacts → | ||||
Indirect evidence “Pioneer Energy Services is now Patterson-UTI” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 17, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 20 | 736 contacts → | ||||
Partial evidence “Lewis Energy is a privately-owned, exploration and production company.” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 17, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 21 | 596 contacts → | ||||
Strong evidence “Talos Energy responsibly develops offshore oil and gas resources essential to everyday life.” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 17, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 22 | 587 contacts → | ||||
Strong evidence “Denbury Inc, is an independent oil and natural gas company.” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 17, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 23 | 583 contacts → | ||||
Indirect evidence “ION commenced the voluntary Chapter 11 process with lender support and DIP financing in April 2022.” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 17, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 24 | 572 contacts → | ||||
Partial evidence “Newfield Exploration Company (NYSE:NFX) is an independent energy company headquartered in The Woodlands, Texas.” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 17, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 25 | 521 contacts → | ||||
Indirect evidence “SAExploration offers a full range of geophysical ground acquisition services from design, prospecting, drilling, recording and analysis of field quality, as well as mobilization…” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 17, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
RevenueBase Smart Search
RevenueBase Smart Search assesses information from a company’s LinkedIn profile, information supplied directly by the company, its website, and other publicly available sources. It uses that information to rate how closely the company relates to this list’s category: oil and gas exploration companies. Every row carries its rating and the description the rating was read from, so each one can be checked rather than taken on trust.
- Strong evidence
- The company's own public description of its business names oil and gas exploration companies.
- Partial evidence
- Its own public description names part of oil and gas exploration companies, so it works in or next to the category without describing itself that way.
- Indirect evidence
- The description shown does not name oil and gas exploration companies. The match rests on the rest of the company's public profile rather than the one sentence quoted here, so this is the rating to check first.
RevenueBase Smart Search is how these lists are built: RevenueBase's data engine and AI assemble the companies that match a category defined in a user's own words, so a list can be about what companies actually do rather than about whichever industry code they were filed under.
Showing 25 of 1,463 oil and gas exploration companies based in the United States
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Oil and gas exploration companies based in the United States at a glance
As of Sep 17, 2026Companies by employee count
Email recency for this list is measured worldwide rather than for United States, so it is reported there. Company counts and contact totals on this page are exact for United States, over 1,463 companies.
How this list was built
Company categories are rarely black and white. RevenueBase reads each company's own description of its business to decide whether it belongs among oil and gas exploration companies, so some rows will be adjacent to the category rather than pure plays. The description and RevenueBase Smart Search rating on every row are there so you can check each match yourself.
- Source
- The RevenueBase company graph: 60 million companies and 398.9 million professional contacts resolved from primary sources, queried with RevenueBase Smart Search, the natural-language company search available to every RevenueBase user.
- What qualifies
- Companies headquartered in the United States whose own description of what they do matches “oil and gas exploration companies”. Matching reads each company's description, not its industry code or its name.
- RevenueBase Smart Search
- RevenueBase Smart Search is how this list is assembled and how each row is rated. RevenueBase's data engine and AI assess a company's LinkedIn profile, information supplied directly by the company, its website and other publicly available information, then relate it to a category defined in a user's own words. Each row is rated strong evidence (its own description names oil and gas exploration companies), partial evidence (it names part of the category) or indirect evidence (the description shown names none of it and the match rests on the rest of the company's profile). The description supporting each rating is quoted on the row.
- What we exclude
- Companies whose own description does not clearly place them among oil and gas exploration companies, and records with no verified work email. Companies headquartered outside United States are excluded even when they keep an office there.
- Match quality
- In blind human judging of this matching method, 86% of matched companies were on target. Expect roughly 1 in 7 rows to be adjacent to the category rather than a pure play. Every row shows the company's own description and its RevenueBase Smart Search rating so you can judge each match yourself. Read the full methodology: how the lists are built, how the judging worked, and what the figure means.
- Ranking
- Team size, largest first: companies are ordered by the number of professionals RevenueBase tracks at each one. Employee ranges shown are reported bands, for context.
- Verification
- Every listed company carries at least one verified work email, 37,237 across the full list. Contacts re-verify on a rolling cadence, and each contact's own verification date is shown inside RevenueBase.
- Refresh
- This page's figures were pulled from the company graph on September 17, 2026. Lists refresh periodically as the graph is re-checked.
- Corrections
- Wrong category, wrong headquarters, or a company that has closed? Use “Report an issue” on any row. Reports go to the RevenueBase Data Team and feed back into the company graph.
Oil and gas exploration companies by metro
- Oil and gas exploration companies in Houston297
- Oil and gas exploration companies in Dallas85
- Oil and gas exploration companies in Oklahoma City52
- Oil and gas exploration companies in Denver49
- Oil and gas exploration companies in Fort Worth46
- Oil and gas exploration companies in Midland46
- Oil and gas exploration companies in Tulsa29
Frequently asked
What is RevenueBase Smart Search?
RevenueBase Smart Search is how RevenueBase decides which companies belong on this list and how strongly each one fits. Its data engine and AI assess a company's LinkedIn profile, information supplied directly by the company, its website and other publicly available information, then relate it to the category the list is about. Each row is rated strong evidence when the company's own description names oil and gas exploration companies, partial evidence when it names part of the category, and indirect evidence when the description shown names none of it and the match rests on the rest of the company's profile.
How many oil and gas exploration companies are there based in the United States?
RevenueBase identified 1,463 oil and gas exploration companies headquartered in the United States as of September 2026, matched on each company's own description of what it does rather than its industry code.
What is the largest company on this list?
Halliburton, headquartered in Houston, tops this list with the largest team on record.
Which city has the most oil and gas exploration companies?
Houston leads with 297 headquartered companies, followed by Dallas (85) and Oklahoma City (52).
How do I get contact information for these companies?
A free RevenueBase account lets you run this exact search and work the top results, verified emails and direct dials included. Upgrading unlocks all 37,237 verified decision-maker contacts tracked across these 1,463 companies.
How current is this list?
The list refreshes periodically as the company graph is re-checked. This page's figures were pulled on September 17, 2026.
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Oil and gas exploration companies by geography
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About this data
RevenueBase is a B2B data infrastructure company. Its company graph covers 60 million companies and 398.9 million professional contacts, with emails verified on a rolling cadence rather than scraped once and left to decay. These company lists are generated directly from that graph with RevenueBase Smart Search, the same natural-language company search every RevenueBase user has: describe a market in plain words, get the companies that match, and add verified emails and direct dials for the people at them. It is the same data that powers RevenueBase's B2B data products, and a free account includes 500 credits to start. How these lists are built and judged.
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