Holiday Office Closure

In observance of the Christmas holidays, Railroad Commission of Texas offices will be closed December 23-27. The offices will re-open at 8 a.m. on Monday, December 30 for regular business. Expedited Drilling Permits will be processed within standard processing times. If assistance is needed, please email Drillingpermits-info@rrc.texas.gov.
RRC maintains a 24-hour emergency phone line to report any leaks or spills. That number is 844-773-0305

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How to Search Oil and Gas East Texas Historical Hearings

small image of East Texas Map

The Oil and Gas East Texas Historical Hearings files:

  • Include Railroad Commission districts 5, 6, and 6E (East Texas Field).
  • Date from 1932 to 1972.
  • Include correspondence, examiners notes, and exhibits that may include geological and seismic data, well logs, reserve estimates, calculated depletion rates, plats, and maps.

PDF files of the Historical Hearings can be viewed online by clicking on the following link:

https://rrcsearch3.neubus.com/esd3-rrc/index.php?_module_=esd&_action_=keysearch&profile=11

There are nine keyfield indices that can be used to search for a desired file. The keyfield indices are: District, Lease/Gas ID, Docket #, County, Subject, Field Name, Lease Name, Applicant Name, and Hearing Date.  Key the information you are looking for into the appropriate value box.  Generally, less information will provide a better search result.  For example, if you know the docket number of the hearing you are interested in, that is the only value box you need to populate.

Wildcard Feature

To the right of each Value box there is information describing the requirements.  Several Fields allow the use of the wildcard ( asterisk icon for wildcard ) feature.  Use the asterisk (*) when you are unsure of the spelling of a name or when you would like to see records for all formations of a field:

texas Returns results where 'texas' has to be an exact match for the Value
texas* Equivalent to "Begins with" search
*texas Equivalent to "Ends with" search
*texas* Equivalent to "Contains" search

Docket Numbers

Docket numbers are numeric with the following exceptions:

Docket Number Search Value Results Returned
DISC ALLOW Discovery Allowable hearings (may be interchangeable with NFD)
NFD New Field Discovery hearings (may be interchangeable with DISC ALLOW)
*circular* The Statewide Oil and Gas Rules, Circular 16B, dated May 15, 1934
*field rules* A compilation of all East Texas Field Rules, including an index

Finding Aid

A Historical Hearing Finding Aid page which provides additional information about the Oil and Gas East Texas Historical Hearings files and Index of East Texas Historical Hearings which allows for browsing the files are also available.

The index includes fields for RRC district, oil or gas field name, lease name, lease/gas ID number, docket number, applicant name, county, subject, and hearing date.  The last column of the index table is a link to the images for the individual file.  The link directs the user to the online database search results for the individual file, and the “Action” button must be clicked to view the document images.

Comments and questions about the Historical Hearings application should be sent to records@rrc.texas.gov .


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