Business

AUSTIN—Commissioners for the Railroad Commission of Texas took a critical step on Wednesday, Nov. 4 toward further reducing flaring from oil and gas sites in the state.

AMARILLO—Xcel Energy crews are finishing up repairs on the area power grid more than a week after Winter Storm Billy pummeled the Texas plains with ice, snow, and high winds, leaving more than half of the company’s Texas customers in the dark.

AUSTIN—The upstream sector of the Texas oil and natural gas industry added 700 jobs in September, according to data from the Texas Workforce Commission. This is the first uptick since February, bringing the total upstream employment in Texas to 170,500 jobs—jobs that pay among the highest wages in Texas. The upstream sector involves oil and natural gas extraction and excludes other industry sectors such as refining, petrochemicals, fuels wholesaling, oilfield equipment manufacturing, pipelines, and gas utilities, which support hundreds of thousands of additional jobs in Texas.

AUSTIN—Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar today said state sales tax revenue totaled $2.72 billion in October, 3.5 percent less than in October 2019. The majority of October sales tax revenue is based on sales made in September and remitted to the agency in October.

WASHINGTON—The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) reminds producers that the deadline to submit applications for disaster recovery assistance through the Wildfire and Hurricane Indemnity Program Plus (WHIP+) for 2018 and 2019 losses is Friday, Oct. 30. Additionally, USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) launched a new tool on farmers.gov to help producers with the application process.

AUSTIN—The Railroad Commission of Texas issued a total of 437 original drilling permits in September 2020 compared to 796 in September 2019. The September 2020 total includes 371 permits to drill new oil or gas wells, two to re-enter plugged well bores, and 41 for recompletions of existing well bores.

The second in a series of oil and gas short courses for land and mineral owners will be held next Tuesday, Oct. 20, at 5:30 pm. Featured speakers will be a representative of the mineral appraisal firm of Pritchard & Abbott, as well as series hosts Haley and Bryce Ward, both of whom have a broad range of expertise in the oil and gas industry. The classes are designed to be no longer than two hours each, and are held quarterly at the Hemphill County Exhibition Center.

AUSTIN—Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar announced this week that he will send cities, counties, transit systems and special purpose taxing districts $751.5 million in local sales tax allocations for October, 2.8 percent less than in October 2019. These allocations are based on sales made in August by businesses that report tax monthly.

AUSTIN—Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar today said state sales tax revenue totaled $2.57 billion in September, 6.1 percent less than in September 2019. The majority of September sales tax revenue is based on sales made in August and remitted to the agency in September.

AMARILLO—Scott Anderson, co-owner of CRI feeders in Guymon, Oklahoma, has been elected the 2021 Texas Cattle Feeders Association chairman. Anderson has owned and managed the feedyard since 2004.