Oil and Gas Development in Texas

Texas is the second most populous and second largest state of the United States of America. Geographically located in the south central part of the country, Texas shares an international border with the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas to the south and borders the U.S. states of New Mexico to the west, Oklahoma to the north, Arkansas to the northeast, and Louisiana to the east. Texas has an area of 268,820 square miles (696,200 km2) and a growing population of over 26.9 million residents (July 2014).

The known petroleum deposits of Texas are about 8 billion barrels (1.3×10⁹ m³), which makes up approximately one-third of the known U.S. supply. Texas has 4.6 billion barrels (730,000,000 m³) of proven crude oil reserves. As wells are depleted in the eastern portions of the state, drilling in state has moved westward. Several of the major oil companies have headquarters in Texas, including ConocoPhillips, Marathon Oil (Houston), Exxon-Mobil (Irving), Tesoro, and Valero (San Antonio).

Texas is a global leader in the energy industry and Houston is the energy capital of the world. Since 2003, Texas state officials have created various initiatives like the Texas Enterprise Fund and the Texas Emerging Technology Fund to develop the economy of Texas. Texas is a leader in alternative energy sources, producing the most wind power of any state, as well as small solar powered efforts and the experimental installation of wave powered generators. Texas also is home to many of the world's largest oilfield services firms including Halliburton, Schlumberger and Dresser. The state has a number of pipeline operators, such as El Paso and Dynegy, along with diversified energy firms such as TXU and Reliant Energy.

Railroad Commission of Texas

Main Article:Railroad Commission of Texas