Useful Links

The Railroad Commission of Texas

The Railroad Commission of Texas was the state's first administrative agency. It was created in 1883 by the Legislature in order to prevent railroads, natural monopolies at the time, from charging unfair rates to transport goods to market. The modern era of oil and gas production began with Spindletop near Beaumont in 1901. By the 1920's it became apparent that wasteful practices in the drilling and production of oil and gas were wasting these resources and causing pollution. The Legislature authorized the Railroad Commission to regulate all aspects of oil and gas production - how many wells can be drilled on a tract, the spacing of those wells, how much they are able to produce. The Commission also has limited jurisdiction under the Mineral Interest Pooling Act (V.T.C.A. Natural Resources Code Ch. 102) to involuntarily pool mineral interests. The Commission's website has a number of helpful pages.

Drilling Permit Application Query

This is an extremely helpful page on the Commission's website. If you are interested in reviewing the drilling permit, well location plat and associated permitting paperwork for a well, then with very little information about the well (such as the name of the well's operator and county) you can view the permit application online. This will give you information concerning the well's exact permitted location in relation to lease/property lines, total depth to be drilled, target reservoirs to which the operator is drilling, etc.

Oil and Gas Directory

This page contains an alphabetical listing of all oil and gas operators who have authority to operate wells in Texas. Just select the first letter of the operator's name and then scroll down the list until you find the operator's address and telephone number.

Proration Schedule by Operator

If you're interested in finding information concerning an operator's well, this is a very helpful page. Its an alphabetical listing of all operators in Texas, listing all of their wells in all fields. If you know that a particular company operates a well called the "Jones No. 1" but you're not certain what field the well is carried in, this is a very helpful site to first find all of the operator's wells and then find that particular well and its field information.

Production Data Query System
for Production since January 1993

With a minimum amount of information concerning a well you view online the production volumes reported by the well operator to the Commission. Note, this database begins with January 1993, so earlier production is not available online through this site.

Railroad Commission Oil and Gas Division
Statewide Rules

The Commission's "Statewide Rules" regulate all aspects of oil and gas production. This page contains an index of the rules by topic. Select any rule to read the full text.

Office of General Counsel Oil and Gas Proposals
for Decision and Orders

This is a companion link to the Statewide Rules link above. If you have questions concerning a particular rule, then after reading that rule, check this site to see if there are Commission orders or "Proposals for Decision" discussing the meaning, content and application of those rules. These Proposals for Decision are the written opinions of the administrative law and technical hearings examiners (administrative law judges) who hear contested cases before the Commission. If you really want to research a particular rule's application to your factual situation, then this is an excellent reference. Note, this site is maintained by the Commission's hearings examiners; it is not represented to contain all of the Commission's orders on any particular rule or topic, but it is a very helpful resource nonetheless.

Miller Consulting, Inc.

There is a great deal of oil and gas well information available online on the Commission website. However, many documents are only available from the Commission's Central Records Department. Miller Consulting, Inc. has an excellent team of records researchers. In addition Miller Consulting does all types of regulatory filings with the Commission, oil and gas regulatory consulting, well permitting and filing of all types of Commission permit applications and rule exception requests.