Reading the Railroad Commission's production report for a Texas gas well
The Railroad Commission of Texas publishes monthly production for gas wells. This page explains what those numbers count, what the disposition codes mean, and how the report differs from the stub your payor sends.
This is general information, not legal advice. It covers Texas gas wells only. It describes what the Railroad Commission's own forms and pages say. The Commission says it has no authority over lease and royalty matters, and this page doesn't tell you whether a payment is right.
For a Texas gas well, the operator files a Monthly Production Report, Form PR, with the Railroad Commission on or before the last day of the month after the production month. It reports the gas produced in MCF at a base of 14.65 psi and 60 degrees Fahrenheit, where each part of that gas went, and any condensate. The Commission's Production Data Query (PDQ) is built from those reports. The report has no price and no royalty owner on it, and the Commission says its numbers come directly from what operators report and can be revised. A royalty stub is a different document: the statute has it show the gas sold, the price, deductions and your decimal. The report counts all gas produced and where it went, and a stub counts gas sold, so the two totals need not match.
1Who files Form PR, and when
| Question | What the Commission says |
|---|---|
| What is filed | The Monthly Production Report, Form PR. The instructions say to file it monthly "for all crude oil, casinghead gas, gas well gas, and condensate produced." |
| By whom | The operator, or a third party filing for it: the Form PR FAQs say a change to Statewide Rule 80 now allows a third party to file for an operator without the operator naming it as a filer. The Commission authorizes only one operator of record, and that operator "should report the total lease production and dispositions." The form carries a certification that the signer is authorized to make the report and that the information is "true, correct and complete to the best of my knowledge." |
| When it is due | Due "on or before the last day of the month following the month covered by the Form PR." |
| When a gas well starts | For gas wells, "from the month of the completion date shown on Form G-1." The RRC's forms page titles Form G-1 "Gas Well Back Pressure Test, Completion or Recompletion Report, and Log." |
| How it is organized | A separate report for each RRC District. Under each field, leases are listed "in the numerical order of the RRC identifier (drilling permit #, API#, lease #, or gas ID#)." Lease total production and disposition are reported for each lease. |
| Corrections | A corrected report lists only the leases being corrected, with all identification information and monthly figures for each. The PDQ FAQ says production information "may change and be updated as the Commission receives revised, corrected or delinquent production reports from operators." |
The RRC's forms page links these instructions, dated January 25, 2022, as the Form PR instructions. They mention stapling pages and filing with the Austin Office. The Form PR FAQs say that effective September 1, 2026 the RRC no longer accepts paper filings, with one exception for correcting reports before January 1993, and they describe filing through the RRC Online System or by EDI file upload.
2What the report counts for a gas well
- All the gas produced. The instructions say: "Report all gas produced regardless of disposition." That includes "test production and vented or flared gas, as well as regular production."
- MCF at a stated base. "Use MCF (thousand cubic feet) at base pressure of 14.65 psi and base temperature of 60°F."
- Gross, after meter corrections. Column 10, formation production, shows "gross production volumes after meter corrections have been applied." Column 10 must equal Column 11, the total of the disposition volumes, for each lease.
- Whole numbers. Volumes are monthly totals "in whole numbers." The instructions say not to use decimals, fractions or negative numbers.
- Condensate is separate. Condensate goes in the oil and condensate columns, in whole barrels. For gas well gas, the instructions say operators "no longer need to convert the condensate production to a gas equivalent volume; the RRC will automatically convert the volume."
- One gas well per gas lease. The PDQ FAQ says production "is reported by each oil and gas lease rather than individual well." It adds: "Gas leases contain one gas well per lease."
Form PR has twelve numbered columns: field and lease name (1), type, which is oil, gas or pending (2), the RRC identifier (3), a commingling permit number or lease total (4), the oil and condensate columns (5 to 9), and the gas columns (10 to 12), which are formation production, disposition volume and disposition code. None of the twelve is a price or a dollar amount.
3Where the gas went: disposition codes
Each disposition volume in column 11 carries a code in column 12. The instructions allow more than one code, but not the same code twice for the same RRC identifier, and say to show dispositions "according to the initial use or purpose."
| Code | What the instructions say |
|---|---|
| 1 | Lease or field fuel use. Gas used or given to others for field operations, including lease drilling fuel, compressor fuel, etc. |
| 2 | Transmission line. Gas delivered to a transmission line that will not be processed further before ultimate use, including gas used for industrial purposes, irrigation or refinery fuel, etc. |
| 3 | Processing plant. Total gas delivered to a gas processing plant, meaning any plant or facility reported on Form R-3. The plant's breakdown of that gas is not reported on Form PR. |
| 5 | Gas lift. Gas the operator uses, sells or gives to others directly for gas lift. It does not include gas delivered to pressure maintenance or processing plants, even if that gas is ultimately used for gas lift. |
| 6 | Repressure or pressure maintenance. Gas delivered to a system or plant that does not extract liquid hydrocarbons. If the gas goes to a plant or system that recovers liquid hydrocarbons, the instructions say to use code 3, even if the gas is ultimately injected for pressure maintenance. |
| 7 | Carbon black. Gas delivered to a carbon black plant. |
| 8 | Underground storage. Gas injected directly into a storage reservoir. |
| 10 | Flared. The Remarks field must give the authority: AR (authorized by rule), AE (authorized by exception), EP (exception pending) or EX (exempt). |
| 11 | Vented. Same Remarks codes as code 10. |
The Commission's August 30, 2021 announcement says code 4, which had been used for gas that was vented or flared, was discontinued for new and corrected reports for production months of September 2021 and later. Codes 10 and 11 replaced it. Code 4 stays in use for new and corrected reports on months of August 2021 and earlier. The announcement adds that the two-letter Remarks codes could be used from September 1, 2021 and would not be required until January 1, 2022.
PDQ's own help page, opened for this page, still lists code 4 as "Vented or flared." In the Disposition Details view for one East Texas gas lease, January to December 2025, the gas columns were numbered 1 through 9 plus "no code," with none for 10 or 11. This page can't say how PDQ shows gas that operators coded 10 or 11. The PDQ help page and the current Form PR instructions do not list the same codes.
4One made-up month
Here is how the gas columns would look for one gas well in one month. The well is "Example Unit 1H," gas ID 123456. Every name and number is invented.
Illustration with made-up numbers, not any real well
| Column | What it holds | MCF |
|---|---|---|
| 10 | Formation production: gross gas produced after meter corrections | 52,000 |
| 11 and 12 | Disposition, code 1: lease or field fuel use | 200 |
| 11 and 12 | Disposition, code 2: transmission line | 51,800 |
| 11 | Total disposition, which must equal column 10 | 52,000 |
In this made-up month, 200 MCF is fuel gas (code 1) and 51,800 MCF went to a transmission line (code 2). Both are part of the 52,000 MCF produced, and the report counts them either way. A stub reports gas sold (§ 91.502, item 3), so it won't necessarily show 52,000. Whether royalty is owed on gas used as fuel is a question about the lease. One lease in the Texas Supreme Court's Hyder case said the volume used to calculate the gas royalty could not be reduced for gas the lessee used as fuel for lease operations or for compression or dehydration (footnote 4 of that opinion). The guide to gas royalty clauses has that case.
5What PDQ shows
The Production Data Query offers production "by lease, field, operator, district or county from January 1993 to present," according to the PDQ FAQ. The FAQ also says production information "is taken directly from the reports submitted to the Commission by the operators," that the reports "reflect a snapshot in time," and that, historically, production records are "substantially complete after about six months."
| Page | What it showed |
|---|---|
| Home page | "Production Data reflects reports processed through: September 18, 2026." "Currently Loaded Production Data: January 1993 - July 2026." |
| General Production Query | A choice of initial view (lease, operator, field, district or county), a date range starting in 1993, a choice of oil leases, gas wells or both, and one region: a district, an onshore county or an offshore area. |
| Results for gas wells in one county | A list with the columns Lease name, Lease No., Well No., GW Gas (MCF) and Condensate (BBL) for the dates chosen. |
| A single lease | Month by month, gas well gas and condensate, each with a production column and a disposition column, and the operator's name and number and the field's name and number. Views to choose from: Production and Total Disposition, Disposition Details, and County Production. |
The field name on a lease page can carry the formation. One East Texas gas lease opened for this page was listed under a field named CARTHAGE (HAYNESVILLE SHALE). None of the views described above has a royalty owner, a lease term or a price on it.
6The report next to a stub
The check stub items come from Natural Resources Code section 91.502, which lists what each check stub, attachment to a payment form or other remittance advice must include. Section 91.501 applies it to a payment to a royalty interest owner. Section 91.506 lets the payor provide the information in some other manner on a monthly basis, except that for a paper check delivered by mail or a private delivery service the payor needs the owner's consent to do so. The table sets each side by what the documents themselves say and doesn't try to explain a gap.
| Item | Form PR and PDQ | Royalty stub, § 91.502 |
|---|---|---|
| Who prepares it | The operator, or a third party filing for it, for the Commission. | The payor, for the owner. A payor can be the purchaser, the operator or the lessee (§ 91.401(2)). |
| What is counted | All gas produced, whatever became of it, including test, vented and flared gas. | "The total number of barrels of oil or the total amount of gas sold" (item 3). |
| The month | The production month and year. | "The month and year during which the sales occurred for which payment is being made" (item 2). |
| Volume unit | MCF at 14.65 psi and 60°F, in whole numbers. | A price "per barrel or per MCF" (item 4). Heating value is covered separately in § 91.504(b), below. |
| Price | None. No column holds a price. | The price per MCF (item 4). |
| Taxes and deductions | None. | Taxes paid (item 5), "any other deductions or adjustments" (item 7) and the net value of total sales (item 8). |
| Your interest | None. | Your decimal (item 9), your share of sales before tax deductions (item 10) and your share less deductions (item 11). |
| The well's ID | The RRC identifier: lease number, gas ID, drilling permit or API number on the form. | The name of the lease, property or well and "any lease, property, or well identification number used to identify" it (item 1). The RRC says its number "may not be the same identification number used on any payment stub." |
Subchapter L (§§ 91.501 to 91.507) has several written requests a royalty interest owner can make to a payor. Three that concern the number the production is reported under, the heating value of the gas and other questions about a payment are described here, and each has conditions:
- Under § 91.504(c) and (d), a royalty interest owner who received a payment from a payor during the preceding calendar year may ask in writing, by certified mail, for a report for the preceding year listing each lease, property or well identification number and name, the field name, the county and state, and the RRC lease identification number, commingling permit number or other number under which the production is reported to the state. The payor has to send it by certified mail not later than the 60th day after it gets the request.
- Under § 91.504(b), if a royalty interest owner asks by certified mail about the heating value of the gas produced or sold from the lease, property or well in which the owner has an interest, the payor has to provide, by certified mail not later than the 60th day after it gets the request, either a copy of the Form G-1 filed with the Commission or a check stub or separate statement that includes the information.
- Under § 91.505, if a royalty interest owner asks by certified mail for information or answers to questions about a payment, other than information requested under § 91.504, the payor must respond by certified mail not later than 30 days after it gets the request.
The subchapter also has a request under § 91.504(a) for an explanation of deductions or adjustments the payor has not explained, and one under § 91.507 for information required under § 91.502 or § 91.503 that the owner did not receive in a timely manner. Each of those has its own conditions too.
7What the Railroad Commission says it can't do
The Commission's Royalties FAQ says: "Areas over which the Railroad Commission has no authority include lease and royalty matters (including leasing, payment of royalties and the right to receive royalties)," and it lists financing, investment and bankruptcy as well. It says it cannot advise whether an operator is in compliance with the terms of a lease, and that it "cannot intervene in royalty matters." It also says the production and disposition records it keeps "may be helpful in determining your interests." Its number for a well is "a five digit number for oil wells or a six digit number for gas wells," and it is "required to be posted at the entrance to the property where the well is located."
For help with PDQ itself, the PDQ FAQ lists ProductionReporting-Info@rrc.texas.gov. For a lawyer, the Royalties FAQ points to the State Bar of Texas lawyer referral service, which it says can provide a list of lawyers board certified in oil and gas law.
The home page worksheet runs on an illustrative curve and says to use your own well's production if you have it. The Railroad Commission publishes reported production for Texas wells through PDQ, described above.
Sources
Last checked . Every page below was opened that day. Forms, instructions and query pages change, so check the current version before relying on any of it.
- Railroad Commission of Texas, Form PR Instructions (01/25/2022)Filing required, when and where to file, corrected reports, order of the report, volumes, casinghead gas and gas well gas, dispositions, flared and vented gas, Table 2 codeshttps://www.rrc.texas.gov/media/mxcpw5vn/form-pr-instructions-01-25-2022.pdfOpened September 29, 2026
- Railroad Commission of Texas, Form PR, Monthly Production Report (02/2021)The twelve columns, the certification and the column headingshttps://www.rrc.texas.gov/media/pwpegji3/form-pr-02-23-2021.pdfOpened September 29, 2026
- Railroad Commission of Texas, Oil & Gas FormsLinks Form PR and its instructions; titles Form G-1https://www.rrc.texas.gov/oil-and-gas/oil-and-gas-forms/Opened September 29, 2026
- Railroad Commission of Texas, announcement of August 30, 2021, Implementation of RRC Revisions to Form PRDisposition code 4 discontinued for September 2021 and later; codes 10 and 11; Remarks codeshttps://www.rrc.texas.gov/announcements/083021-implementation-of-rrc-revisions-to-form-pr-monthly-production-report/Opened September 29, 2026
- Railroad Commission of Texas, Production Reporting Form PR FAQsOne operator of record; third-party filers; corrected reportshttps://www.rrc.texas.gov/about-us/faqs/oil-gas-faq/production-reporting-form-pr-faqs/Opened September 29, 2026
- Railroad Commission of Texas, Production Data Query System (PDQ) FAQsReporting by lease, one gas well per gas lease, snapshot in time, revisions, coverage from January 1993, contact addresshttps://www.rrc.texas.gov/about-us/faqs/oil-gas-faq/production-data-query-system-faqs/Opened September 29, 2026
- Railroad Commission of Texas, Production Data QueryHome page status lines, the General Production Query form, a results list for gas wells in one county, and a single lease's production and disposition views. The disposition code help page: https://webapps.rrc.state.tx.us/PDQ/help/prod_codes.htmlhttps://webapps.rrc.state.tx.us/PDQ/home.doOpened September 29, 2026
- Railroad Commission of Texas, Royalties FAQNo authority over lease and royalty matters; well identification numbers; production recordshttps://www.rrc.texas.gov/about-us/faqs/royalties-faq/Opened September 29, 2026
- Texas Natural Resources Code, chapter 91, subchapters J and LSections 91.401(2), 91.501, 91.502, 91.503, 91.504, 91.505, 91.506 and 91.507. The statutes site said its statutes were current through the 89th 2nd Called Legislative Session, 2025.https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/NR/htm/NR.91.htmOpened September 29, 2026
If you want a second pair of eyes
If you'd like a second look at your stub, the home page describes what a review covers and has the request form. A review is not a legal opinion. The home page says that if your lease or stub raises a legal claim, we'll say so and point you to an oil and gas attorney where the land sits.
Ask for a Haynesville review
Tell us the county or parish, the operator or unit, and whether you are checking a royalty stub or weighing an offer. We work for you, confirmed in writing before any work starts.
We work as independent landmen. We aren't attorneys and don't give legal opinions; we work alongside your attorney and title company. Nothing here is a substitute for the advice of an attorney.
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