Texas Railroad Commission (RRC)

The Texas Railroad Commission (RRC), formally the Railroad Commission of Texas, is the state agency that regulates oil and gas production in Texas. Despite the name — a holdover from its 1891 origins regulating railroads, a role it gave up entirely in 2005 — it issues drilling permits (Form W-1), registers operators (Form P-5), sets spacing and density rules, tracks well status, enforces plugging requirements, and collects monthly production reporting. Its records are the authoritative public source for Texas well and operator data. It is a Texas-only agency, not a national regulator and not a railroad regulator.

One distinction trips up many owners: the RRC regulates production, but it does not collect the oil and gas severance tax. That tax — 4.6% of the market value of oil and 7.5% of the market value of gas — is assessed and collected by the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, not the Commission. The RRC and the Comptroller describe the same produced barrels and Mcf from two angles: regulation versus revenue.

Every major oil and gas state has an equivalent body, so the regulator's name varies. In Oklahoma it is the Oklahoma Corporation Commission (OCC); in New Mexico it is the Oil Conservation Division (NMOCD) within the Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department (EMNRD); North Dakota uses its Industrial Commission. These agencies set spacing, hear pooling applications, and enforce correlative rights in their states.

For a mineral owner, the RRC (or your state's counterpart) is the public window into your minerals: you can look up a well by API number, confirm the operator of record, check whether a well is active or plugged, and verify reported production that underlies your royalty. For the full walkthrough — what the RRC does, how to look up a well or lease, and the severance-tax split — see our guide to the Texas Railroad Commission.