San Antonio-based GulfTex Energy is beginning its year with four wells targeting the Eagle Ford Shale and Austin Chalk.

GulfTex Energy IV LP filed its first drilling permits of the year with the Railroad Commission of Texas last week.

The San Antonio-based exploration-and-production company is seeking permission to drill four horizontal wells about 5.4 miles southwest of Gillett on its Wiatrek Unit lease in oil-rich Karnes County. Two of the wells target the Eagleville field in the Eagle Ford geological layer to a depth of 12,500 feet, while the other two target the Sugarkane field in the Austin Chalk down to 12,000 feet.

Touting a $40-per-barrel break-even price, the company retained Houston-based RBC Richardson Barr in October to market 9,800 net acres of oil leases in the core of the Eagle Ford and Austin Chalk in Karnes County, where GulfTex said it plans to drill 18 Eagle Ford wells and 12 Austin Chalk wells.

Financially backed by investors that include Wells Fargo & Co., Prudential Capital Group and GSO Capital Partners, GulfTex Energy IV LP is the fourth iteration of the privately held oil company. CEO Brad Jauer filed to incorporate GulfTex Energy IV LP in October 2015, Texas Secretary of State records show.

The company's third iteration, GulfTex Energy III LP, sold most of its South Texas oil leases to Houston-based EnerVest Ltd. in April 2016 but held onto some of its acreage.

GulfTex Energy III LP and GulfTex Energy IV LP filed a combined 18 drilling permits in 2017. On the production side, the oil leases owned by the two companies produced more than 129,000 barrels of oil and nearly 143.5 million cubic feet of natural gas from January to October 2017.