The Railroad Commission, through its Oil and Gas Division, regulates the exploration, production, and transportation of oil and natural gas in Texas. These records consist of oil production statistics compiled by the Oil Accounting and Statistical Department in 1932 and 1933 for the East Texas field and in April 1940 for the entire state; testimony from a 1947 hearing on salt water disposal in the East Texas field; and a 1947 speech by the chairman of the Interstate Oil Compact Commission on its history and functions. This series forms part of the records of the Oil and Gas Division of the Railroad Commission of Texas. The oil production statistics were compiled by the Oil Accounting and Statistical Department of the Oil and Gas Division. The Railroad Commission set an allowable amount of production for each oil well in the state and the compilation of production figures was necessary to enforce the allowables. Each month, oil well operators reported their production, disposition, and storage of oil. In this series are the April 1940 monthly reports for the entire state. Also present in this series are four quarterly statements prepared by the Oil and Gas Division for the East Texas oil well operators, 1932-1933, that list each operator's lease, survey, number of wells, inventory, production, allowable, pipeline company, deliveries, and balance. These quarterly statements then summarize the individual data to give total figures for inventory, production, allowable, deliveries, and oil in storage for the East Texas area. Next in this series are two statements on disposal of salt water produced by oil field operations in East Texas. The statements were given by officers of the East Texas Salt Water Disposal Company at a Railroad Commission hearing on April 17, 1947. The statements report the history of salt water production in the East Texas field, the problem of disposal, the organization of the East Texas Salt Water Disposal Company, its operations, and the technical aspects of the return of salt water underground. The two statements are typed and include charts and photographs. Last in this series is a speech given by Hiram M. Dow, Chairman of the Interstate Oil Compact Commission, at the annual meeting of the Panhandle Producers and Royalty Association in Amarillo on June 18, 1947. Mr. Dow spoke on the history and future of the American oil industry and the history and function of the Interstate Oil Compact Commission. The Commission is an organization composed of oil producing states whose primary goals are to conserve and protect oil resources and prevent waste. This finding aid describes one series of the Railroad Commission of Texas records. See Railroad Commission of Texas: An Overview of Records (http://www.lib.utexas.edu/taro/tslac/20078/tsl-20078.html) for more records series.
