On its Q1 2026 earnings call held May 6, Comstock Resources reported first-quarter production averaged 1,088 MMcfe/d, down 15% vs. Q1 2025, attributing the decline to significant winter weather that forced shut-ins and pushed most of the quarter's well turn-in-line (TIL) activity into the closing weeks of the quarter. However, Comstock held full-year 2026 production guidance at 1,250–1,400 MMcfe/d. CEO Jay Allison guided 2Q 2026 production up 13–15% sequentially vs Q1, with stronger growth expected in the back half as the late-March completions ramp up and a fourth frac fleet comes online in May. The company plans to maintain its current nine rig drilling program through the end of the year.
The Western Haynesville remains the centerpiece of Comstock's long-term growth strategy, with management citing the play's higher thickness, higher pressures, and significantly greater resource potential per section vs. the legacy Haynesville. Reductions in Western Haynesville Drilling and Completion (D&C) costs were identified as key 2026 priorities, and Comstock is still in the early stages of optimizing their drilling techniques there (see well performance comparison below). To that end, the company mentioned several initiatives intended to reduce D&C costs this year, including rolling out a larger diameter lateral design, upgrading one of their Western Haynesville rigs to a 10,000-psi pressure rating by late summer, field testing higher-temperature-rated drilling motors later in 2026, and eventually deploying rotary steerable drilling systems already being tested in the legacy Haynesville.
