GUIDES · TEXAS

How Texas oil and gas records work

Texas publishes more oil and gas data than any other state, in forms that assume you already know what they mean. Each guide takes one record and answers the practical questions: what it is, who files it, how far behind it runs, and what it can and cannot tell you.

CoverageTexas, Railroad Commission recordsNew Mexico next, then other producing statesThe roadmap → · Ask for a state or a record →

Connect

Plug Petrora into the assistant you already use, or call the API directly.

Connect Petrora to ClaudeAdd Petrora as a custom connector in Claude so it can look up Texas wells, operators, permits, and disposal data and cite the page for every answer.Connect Petrora to ChatGPTAdd Petrora as a connector in ChatGPT so it can query Texas well, operator, permit, and disposal data and cite petrora.com pages.Connect Copilot, Cursor, and other MCP clientsHow to add Petrora's MCP server to Microsoft Copilot Studio, Cursor, VS Code, and any other client that supports remote MCP servers.API referenceHow to use the Petrora data API. Read-only JSON over Texas Railroad Commission and TexNet records, with a citation URL on every entity. What the endpoints are for, how to read the identifiers, windows, and dates, and where the machine-readable contract lives.

Permits

The drilling permit is where every well begins.

How Texas drilling permits workWhat a Railroad Commission drilling permit (Form W-1) is, who files it, what the application types and dates mean, and how long a permit stays valid.

Wells

Identifiers, completion records, and current status.

API numbers explainedHow a Texas API well number is built, what each part means, why a well can have several suffixes, and how to look one up.Completion reports, formation tops, and the wellbore fileWhat the W-2 and G-1 completion reports contain, how formation tops, casing, and perforations reach the RRC wellbore file, and how Petrora computes subsea depths.The EWA wellbore file and well statusWhat the RRC's wellbore (EWA) file says about each well, what the well types and the on-schedule flag mean, and why it is the source for a well's current operator.

Operators

Who is registered to operate, and who operates what.

Operator numbers and the P-5 reportWhat an RRC operator number is, what the P-5 Organization Report contains, why one company can have several numbers, and how Petrora decides a well's operator of record.

Production

What the state collects, and what it does not.

How Texas production data is reportedWhy Texas oil production is reported by lease rather than by well, what the PDQ data contains, what casinghead gas and condensate mean in the reports, and how far the data lags.

Water

Disposal, injection, and the seismicity that follows it.

Saltwater disposal and injection permits in TexasHow the RRC permits disposal and injection wells (W-14 and H-1), what the UIC permit records, how injected volumes are reported on the H-10 and through TexNet, and how to read them.Texas earthquakes, TexNet, and seismic response areasWhere Texas earthquake data comes from, how the RRC responds to induced seismicity with seismic response areas, and how Petrora relates earthquakes to disposal wells.

Reference

Codes, geography, and how current each source is.

RRC districts, counties, and offshore tractsHow the Railroad Commission divides Texas into districts, why county names in the data include offshore tracts, and how to read district and county codes.How current the data isWhen each Railroad Commission source updates, how long each one lags the real world, and the rules Petrora follows so that lag is never hidden.

Beyond Texas

One state at a time, in the order you ask for

Every state keeps its own records, under its own agency, with its own identifiers and lags, so each one gets its own set of guides rather than a footnote on these. New Mexico is next, because its Permian wells share operators, formations, and water with West Texas. After that the order is set by what people ask for. If your work runs through Oklahoma, North Dakota, Louisiana, or anywhere else, say so and name the records you rely on.

Request a state See the roadmap