Texas Wells, Production and Permits: Reading RRC Data in the Texas Pack

A mineral owner in Midland County gets a lease offer and wants to know what has been drilled on and around the tract, how much it has produced, and who is permitting new wells nearby. All three answers are Texas Railroad Commission (RRC) records. The Texas pack puts them on the abstract grid, so you read them against the tract instead of one API number at a time.

Wells: surface holes and bottom holes

Turn on Texas RRC Wells (surface) in the Texas group of the map Layers panel. Each point is a well's surface location, colored by status:

Many RRC location records carry no status, so expect a lot of gray. Click a well for its lease name and well number, API number, status, operator, field, formation, spud date and RRC district.

Texas RRC Wells (bottom-hole) marks where each wellbore ends, drawn as a ring. For a horizontal well, the surface hole and bottom hole can sit on different abstracts, sometimes a mile or more apart. If you care about which tract a lateral produces from, read the bottom hole, not only the surface pin.

In the parcel report, the Texas tab lists RRC active wells on the abstract with API number, operator, lease and well number, formation and status. Click a row to show that well on the map.

Production: the PDQ data

RRC production comes from its Production Data Query (PDQ) records, which report oil and gas volumes by lease and month, not by well or by tract. The pack uses them in three places.

The heatmap. RRC Production (BOE) shades cumulative barrels of oil equivalent onto the survey grid: by county when zoomed out, by block in the middle zooms, by abstract when zoomed in. Click a cell for its cumulative BOE, the number of producing leases and wells, and the last month reported. It is a density view: a lease's full production counts in every cell where it has a well, so cells do not add up to a basin total.

The production card. On the Texas tab, the RRC production history card shows cumulative BOE for the leases with wells on the abstract, trailing 12-month BOE, a monthly curve for the last five years, and each producing lease with its operator, lease number, oil or gas designation, cumulative barrels and Mcf, a sparkline and a decline observation. The decline note describes reported volumes. It is not a forecast. BOE converts gas at 6 Mcf per barrel.

Per-well analytics. Under each lease, click a well to open its detail view: the well record, allocated production history with a decline fit where the data supports one, a ranked offset cohort of nearby wells by peak allocated oil, and approved permits within a radius you choose (1 to 50 miles, 5 by default), each with distance and bearing. These per-well numbers are allocated estimates derived from lease reports, not metered well volumes. When some wells lack completion dates, a "Static denominator" warning appears because early-life volumes may be understated.

Approved drilling permits (W-1)

Texas RRC Drilling Permits shows approved W-1 permits as violet points. Click one for the well name, permit number and status, operator, API number, purpose and permit date. Pending W-1 applications are not on the map: the RRC pending file carries no coordinates, so that row in the layer list is disabled. Use the RRC's own permit query for pending applications.

For a county view, the Texas permits hub lists approved permits per county over the last 12 months, with the operators filing them.

UIC disposal and injection wells

Texas UIC (Disposal) Wells marks underground injection control wells: red for commercial disposal, blue for non-commercial. The popup gives the UIC permit number, operator number, well class, injection type, maximum permitted injection in barrels per day and permit date. A commercial disposal well near a tract is worth knowing about before you buy surface or sign a surface use agreement.

Pipelines

Pipelines (TX RRC) shows the RRC statewide pipeline network colored by commodity: natural gas, crude oil, HVL and NGL, refined products, carbon dioxide, and water or other. Click a line for its pipeline ID, operator, diameter, status and county. The report's T-4 pipelines card lists each line crossing the abstract by T-4 ID and operator number. This layer opens with either the Texas pack or the Energy pack.

Operator and field lookups

Open the gear icon beside the search box and turn on Texas RRC operators (P-5) or Texas RRC fields, then type a name and press Enter.

• An operator search matches the P-5 operator name or number and returns a footprint for the best match: counts of wells, permits and pipelines carrying that operator name. The match is by name, so it is labeled "name-matched" and can miss records filed under a variant spelling.
• A field search matches the RRC field name or field code.

The Texas operators hub has wells, counties, fields and production for the most active operators, and the Texas abstracts hub ranks abstracts by RRC well count.

Worked example

The mineral owner's tract is Abstract 3 Midland County.

1. Search it. The match is the T&P RR Co survey, Block 41 T1N, Section 2.
2. Turn on surface holes, bottom holes and drilling permits. Look for laterals that end on the abstract from surface locations off it, and for violet permit points in the surrounding sections.
3. Open the report's Texas tab. Read the active wells list, then the production card: which leases have reported volumes and whether the recent curve is flat or falling.
4. Click a well under a lease to open its detail view and its offset cohort at 5 miles. That shows how this tract's wells compare with their neighbors.
5. Search the operator from the lease offer as a P-5 operator to see its footprint.

Limits

These are official RRC records as loaded, not a title opinion, a reserve report or an appraisal. Production is reported by lease, per-well volumes are allocated estimates, and well status is often blank. Confirm anything you rely on for a lease or a purchase in the RRC's own systems.

FAQ

Why does the heatmap show production on an abstract with no wells on it?

A cell takes the full cumulative BOE of every lease that has a well in it. A lease spanning several abstracts shows up in each one where it has a well.

Are the per-well volumes what the RRC reports?

No. The RRC reports most production by lease. Per-well figures are allocated from the lease totals and are labeled as estimates.

Can I watch for new permits near my tract?

Approved permits are on the map and in each well's detail view within the radius you pick. Pending applications are not available because the RRC pending file has no coordinates.

Does the Energy pack cover Texas wells?

No. Texas wells are in the Texas pack. The Energy pack covers wells in five other producing states; see Energy wells and operators.