Texas Railroad Commission

The Texas Railroad Commission (RRC) is one of the most important regulatory bodies in global energy markets. As the primary regulator of Texas oil and gas operations — and Texas accounts for roughly 40% of U.S. crude oil production — the RRC's public data archive is the most consequential single source of production information in the country.

What the RRC Regulates

• Upstream oil and gas: Drilling permits, well completion reports, production reporting, plugging requirements
• Pipeline safety: Intrastate oil and gas pipeline safety (interstate pipelines fall under PHMSA)
• Natural gas utilities: Rate and service regulation for natural gas distribution companies
• Liquefied petroleum gas: LPG dealer licensing and safety regulation

RRC Production Data: Format and Access

The RRC publishes monthly production data via bulk DSV (delimiter-separated values) file downloads. These files use the } character as the field delimiter — a non-standard choice that breaks every default CSV parser. Key quirks:

• Production is reported at the lease level, not the individual well level in many datasets
• Historical archives include EBCDIC binary tape format files
• File schemas change without versioning or public notice
• Updates lag actual production by 30–90 days

Data Coverage

The RRC maintains records on approximately 500,000+ active and inactive wellbores across Texas, with production history going back decades for major fields. This data underpins every Texas production analysis, acquisition model, and reserve estimate in the industry.