RRC Holiday Office Closure

The Railroad Commission of Texas will be closed Wednesday, November 27 and remain closed on Thursday, November 28 and Friday, November 29 in observance of the Thanksgiving Holiday. The agency will reopen for regular business at 8 a.m. on Monday, December 2.

Water Conservation and Recycling Symposium

Presentation from the Texas Oil and Gas Water Conservation and Recycling Symposium Hosted by Chairman Craddick on Thursday, May 22, 2014

Commissioner Craddick and Jackson
Chairman Craddick with Kathleen Jackson,
Member of the Texas Water Development Board.

While Texas is leading the nation in many aspects of energy production, the oil and gas industry’s focus on fresh water conservation has come to the forefront of production technology in only recent years. Due to the drought Texas has experienced, scrutiny of water usage and the importance of water conservation continues to grow.

The Railroad Commission of Texas (Commission) amended its commercial and non-commercial recycling rules (16 TAC § 3.8, relating to Water Protection, and 16 TAC Chapter 4, Subchapter B, relating to Commercial Recycling) in March of 2013. The amended rules went into effect the following month on April 15, 2013. With this amended rule, the Commission recognized its ability to remove roadblocks that have historically hindered the widespread acceptance of recycling within the industry. Major amendments adopted to the Commission’s recycling rules were put into place to encourage further conservation, reuse and recycling of solids and liquids produced by oil and gas operators that would otherwise be considered waste.

In May of 2014, I hosted the Texas Oil and Gas Water Conservation and Recycling Symposium to highlight industry technologies in this area that are changing the way energy is developed. Industry advancements in recycling in the past year have proven the Commission’s recycling rule amendments to be a key factor in efforts toward the recycling and reuse of drilling flowback and produced solids and liquids within the oilfield. We are excited that industry has used this rule as an opportunity to accelerate the deployment of recycling technologies in Texas, and look forward to continued growth in industry conservation in years to come.

 image of Craddick's Signature

Chairman, Railroad Commission of Texas


Texas Oil and Gas Water Conservation and Recycling Symposium Industry Presentations:

  1. Feed Back on New Recycling Rules - Fountain Quail Water Managment, Brent Halldorson, P.Eng.
  2. Eliminating Fresh Water Usage in Oil Field Operations - Fasken Oil and Ranch
  3. Water Rescue Services
  4. Oilfield Water Management Solutions - AES Water Solutions
  5. Positive Impacts of Rule 3.8 - Pioneer Natural Resources
  6. Fast, Accurate, & Dirt Simple. Real-time Fluid Analysis at the Well Site - Water Len
  7. Presentation by Occidental Petroleum
  8. Reducing Fresh Water Use - Apache, Evan Tarante
  9. Recycling Conservation - Laredo Petroleum
  10. Water Recycling in Texas - Baker Hughes
  11. Texas Produced Water Recycling - Rockwater Energy Solutions
  12. Recycling Progress Highlights - Omni Water Solutions, Warren Sumner
  13. Accelerated Vapor Recompression and Water Clarification – Oil and Suspended Solids Removal - Purestream Services LLC
  14. Water Solution - Multi-Chem, a Halliburton Service
  15. Texas Water Reuse - Thermo Energy


Water Conservation and Recyclying Symposium Agenda



Commissioners