Business

The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service will host the 24th Annual Wheatheart Wheat Conference on Aug. 11 at the Ochiltree County Expo Center, 402 Expo Drive in Perryton.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack recently announced agricultural producers nationwide have already received more than $4 billion through the Emergency Relief Program (ERP), representing nearly 67 percent of the more than $6 billion projected to be paid through this phase of the program. Eligible producers in Texas have received $557.5 million in funding to date.

AUSTIN—The Texas Railroad Commission issued a total of 1,146 original drilling permits in June 2022 compared to 739 in June 2021. The June 2022 total includes 1,013 permits to drill new oil or gas wells, 11 to re-enter plugged wellbores, and five for recompletions of existing wellbores. The breakdown of well types for original drilling permits in June 2022 is 263 oil, 113 gas, 726 oil or gas, 35 injection, and nine other permits. In the Panhandle area, RRC staff processed 21 permits to drill new oil or gas holes, as well as 10 new oil and 10 new gas completion reports during the month. Overall, the RRC processed 534 oil, 164 gas, and 594 injection completions for new drills, re-entries, and recompletions during June 2020, compared to 507 oil, 158 gas, and 128 injection completions in June 2021. Total well completions processed for 2022 yearto-date for new drills, re-entries, and recompletions are 5,804 compared to 4,385 recorded during the same period in 2021. Detailed data on drilling permits and well completions for the month can be found at this link: https://www.rrc.texas.gov.

Hemphill County Farm Bureau donated $1,500 to three volunteer fire departments in Hemphill County recently, in appreciation for their efforts battling fires in the area. Fire departments in Canadian, Briscoe, and Gem City received checks for $500 each.

AUSTIN—Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar announced last week that he would send cities, counties, transit systems, and special-purpose taxing districts $1.01 billion in local sales tax allocations for June— 11.6 percent more than in June 2021.

CANADIAN—The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farm Service Agency (FSA) encourages all farmers, ranchers, and FSA program participants to take part in the Hemphill County Committee election nomination process.

AUSTIN—As temperatures rise and drought intensification appears inevitable for much of Texas this summer, a new report released by the Center for Public Finance at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, in partnership with Texas 2036, calculates the price Texas might soon pay for worsening droughts.

AUSTIN—Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar’s recently-released tax collections data reveals that Texas oil and natural gas producers are paying record amounts in production taxes to the state of Texas. According to the comptroller’s data, in April, Texas oil producers paid a record $666 million to the state in oil production taxes, the highest amount in history.

Texas RRC releases March 2022 oil and gas production stats AUSTIN—Crude oil and natural gas production reported to the Texas Railroad Commission in March 2022 came from 162,387 oil wells and 87,163 gas wells. Based on RRC reports from April 2021 to March 2022, total Texas production was 1.5 billion barrels of crude oil and 10.7 trillion cubic feet of total gas.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) has approved LPC Conservation LLC’s habitat conservation plan (HCP) and associated incidental take permit. The HCP is designed to allow for the responsible development of oil and gas in the Great Plains while also contributing to the conservation of the lesser prairie-chicken.