Petro Path

Review by eFreeware

Finding a specific well site in an unfamiliar part of an oilfield is rarely as simple as typing an address into a consumer map app. Wells sit off county roads, behind lease gates and along routes that don't correspond to any street number. For people whose work depends on reaching those locations, that gap between a well's identity and a drivable route is a recurring problem.

Petro Path is built to close that gap. It comes from the developer of the same name and is listed in the Business category, with coverage limited to the United States. The app is free to download and carries no ads, though it does offer in-app purchases, including a subscription priced at $19.99 per month after a one-month free trial.

The install base sits at over 10,000, with a 3.9 average from 159 ratings. That's a modest footprint, which fits a tool aimed at a specific working audience rather than a general navigation crowd.

Searching for a well when the address isn't enough

The core of the app is search. Rather than navigating to a postal address, you look up oil and gas well locations and get directions to them. For anyone who has spent time cross-referencing lease records with a phone map, that shift in starting point is the whole appeal.

Coverage is currently limited to the United States, so the search is only useful for domestic wells. If your work crosses into Canada or overseas acreage, the app's reach stops at the border.

The developer describes the app as covering search, share, save and more, which suggests the lookup is meant to feed the rest of the workflow rather than stand alone. I'd expect the search to be the feature people open the app for most often, with the others supporting it.

Saving sites you visit repeatedly

Field work tends to be repetitive. A pump servicer, a landman or a compressor technician may return to the same handful of wells week after week, and re-entering coordinates each time would be tedious. Saving locations addresses that directly.

The save function is the part I'd expect to matter most for anyone with a regular route. Building a personal list of wells turns the app from a one-off lookup tool into something closer to a working reference.

The saved list appears to be a personal record, with no team sharing or office sync.

Passing directions along to someone else

Oilfield work is collaborative. A dispatcher, a relief operator or a contractor may need to reach a location someone else has already found, and describing that route over the phone is error-prone. The share feature exists for exactly that handoff.

Being able to send a well location onward means the person receiving it doesn't have to repeat the search from scratch. For crews coordinating across shifts, that's a small feature with an outsized effect on how quickly people actually arrive.

The app also keeps a Facebook presence where the developer invites questions and comments, and points users to a support team for feedback.

What you need before the first lookup

Petro Path installs free, and the developer offers a one-month trial at the start. You can cancel during that window and avoid being charged, which gives a reasonable runway to judge whether the coverage matches the areas you work in.

After the trial, the subscription runs $19.99 per month. It renews automatically unless auto-renewal is switched off at least 24 hours before the current period ends, and the renewal charge lands within 24 hours of that period closing. Managing or canceling the subscription happens through your account settings after purchase.

One practical note the developer includes: GPS running in the background can reduce battery life. That's worth planning around on long field days, since navigation and location tracking are the app's central functions.

The app was released in May 2016 and last updated in April 2025.

The audience this fits

Petro Path is built for people whose job involves physically reaching oil and gas wells in the United States. That includes field operators, service technicians, inspectors, land and lease staff, and the contractors who support them.

It's a narrow tool by design. Someone who needs general driving directions, or who works outside the US, won't get much from it. But for the person who regularly types well identifiers into a search box and needs a route out of it, the app's focus is the point.

The 3.9 average across 159 ratings suggests a user base that is broadly satisfied without being unanimous. With a working audience this specific, that spread is unsurprising: coverage and subscription cost will weigh differently depending on where someone operates.

A practical tool for US oilfield routes

Petro Path solves one problem well: getting to a specific oil or gas well in the United States. Search, save and share cover the three things field workers actually do with a location, and the app stays out of the way otherwise.

The subscription is the main consideration. At $19.99 per month, it's a real cost, and the one-month trial is the sensible way to check whether the coverage reaches the wells you visit before committing. If your work keeps you in US oilfields and you're tired of translating well locations into drivable addresses, this is worth trying during the free period.

If your driving is mostly between offices, or your acreage sits outside the US, the app's scope won't match your needs.

What's new in version 4.9.5

API Update