The oil and natural gas industry and Texas government work together to conduct groundbreaking research, advance our state’s economy, support our education systems and keep all Texans safe.
Each year, oil and natural gas professionals work with various Texas agencies including the Railroad Commission, Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and other state and federal agencies to promote responsible production while protecting our air and water. Oil and natural gas companies are also leading innovators of technology and support many public/private research initiatives.
See some examples below of how the energy industry and government work together to keep Texas on the cutting edge!
- Collaboration between Texas oil and natural gas companies like Anadarko and NASA have led to the development of a fiber-optic sensing system that can make offshore drilling platforms safer. (http://www.epmag.com/final-frontier-nasa-share-risk-management-offshore-industry-848271)
- U.S. Safety and Health Administration works with North Texas Exploration and Production Safety Network to promote industry best practices to advance workplace safety. (https://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=NEWS_RELEASES&p_id=30402)
- In early 2016, Pioneer Natural Resources kicked off a $25 million infrastructure project to save water and cut costs, working with the City of Odessa. As part of the project, Pioneer purchases the city’s otherwise unusable municipal wastewater for use in the company’s energy production.
- The oil and natural gas industry is working with experts from the University of Texas’ Center for Integrated Seismicity Research and the TexNet Seismic Monitoring Program at The University of Texas’ Bureau of Economic Geology (BEG) to better understand seismicity in Texas. Oil and natural gas companies are helping to identify fault lines and filling in research gaps by sharing data on subsurface geology with scientists and regulators.
Ongoing collaboration between the state and local governments and the oil and natural gas industry helps to secure our economy, our environment and our future. To learn more about how the Texas Railroad Commission and Texas Commission on Environmental Quality regulate the industry and keep Texas safe, watch the video below.