A Software Company in Texas That Reads the Renewal Packet First

Updated November 2026 · Written and maintained by the Progression Agency strategy team

A small operator with forty wells gets its Form P-5 renewal packet in early February for a May 1 expiration, and the fact sheet inside lists six inactive wells that need attention before the Railroad Commission will renew. The production data, bond papers and well records that answer it sit in three different systems. A software company in Texas building for oil and gas operators turns that packet into an exception report months before it arrives. Progression is based in New York, builds for Texas operators remotely, and offers on-site sessions on request.

A renewal packet arriving 85 days out

Picture a forty well operator in the Permian Basin with a May 1 expiration. The Railroad Commission’s own Form P-5 presentation says renewal packets go out 85 days before the expiration date, which for a May 1 renewal means around the first week of February. The packet carries a renewal fact sheet that breaks down the filing fee, the surcharge and the financial assurance, and lists any inactive wells required for renewal.

• The filing fee and surcharge for the renewal.
• The financial assurance line and its tier.
• Any inactive wells required for renewal, listed by number.
• The date by which the operator files.

Nothing on that sheet is a surprise to the wells themselves. The last reported barrel, the bond on file and the spelling of the company name were all in the operator’s records in November. The only new thing in February is that someone at the Commission has put them on one page.

Why a software company in Texas starts with the Form P-5

The Commission’s summary of requirements and responsibilities says any organization performing operations within its jurisdiction must maintain a current Form P-5, Organization Report. The list of operations is long: drilling, operating or producing oil, gas, injection or disposal wells, transporting or handling oil and gas waste including hauling salt water for hire, operating a pipeline, and well service work including hydraulic fracturing, among others.

The same page names the rules behind the filing, all in 16 Texas Administrative Code, Chapter 3: Statewide Rules 1, 14, 15, 78 and 58. For a build, the useful fact is that one form ties them together, so one report can watch them together.

Operators file in the Commission’s LoneSTAR system, where Form P-5 is available as new, renewal and records only. Access runs through the RRC Access Management Process, known as RAMP, which an organization’s Delegated Administrator controls. Software built for the operator prepares and checks what goes in; the authorized users submit it.

What must the operator’s own systems be able to answer?

Four things: how many wells the operator has by every category the rule counts, when each well last reported activity, what financial assurance is on file and when it expires, and whether the legal name matches the state’s record. If any of the four takes a phone call to answer, the report has nowhere to start.

The exception report, row by row

Each row is a condition that can stop or delay a renewal. The columns name the rule behind it, the record the software checks and who fixes it. The rows below are read from the Commission’s pages and from Statewide Rule 15 as currently posted.

• Every row has a rule behind it that staff can open and read.
• Every row names a record, so the check can run without a phone call.
• Every row has an owner, so nothing sits on the list unclaimed.
• Rows clear as records are fixed, and the report shows the date each one cleared.

Twelve months without a reported barrel

Rule 15 calls a well inactive when it is unplugged, has been spudded or equipped with cemented casing, and has had no reported production, disposal, injection or other permitted activity for more than 12 months. The report counts days since the last report for each well and lists the ones within a set margin of the line. A well can be quiet for good reasons, and the list is a prompt to look at it, not a verdict.

Coming back off the inactive list

A well inactive for 12 months or longer stays inactive, however small the activity, until it reports at least five barrels of oil or 50 Mcf of gas each month for three consecutive months, or at least one barrel or one Mcf each month for 12 consecutive months. The software tracks both paths for each well and shows the month a well would clear.

The 25 year test

For a well more than 25 years old, an extension of the plugging deadline needs a successful fluid level or hydraulic pressure test that the Commission approves. The report flags age and test status together, so the field team books the test before the renewal date, not after.

What an exception report build costs

Price follows the scope: which systems the report reads, how many wells it covers and how the exceptions are routed. Progression quotes after a written scope, and its method is proprietary and kept for clients. Hosting, licenses and security testing come on top of any build.

What moves the price most?

The number of source systems, how clean their well identifiers are, and whether the report only reads data or also stores documents and routes tasks. Data that already uses one well identifier everywhere costs less to match than three spreadsheets with three spellings.

A report that reads three existing systems and writes a monthly list sits near the internal tool and integration band. Anything that adds operator portals, field entry or document storage moves toward the portal and platform band. Our software development company page covers the general build.

Well counts and the bond tier

The Commission’s summary page says most regulated activities, including operating wells and pipelines, require financial assurance under Statewide Rule 78. It names two options, shown in the table.

The page says a well counts whether it is active, inactive, injection or producer, and that cash deposits renew automatically once the operator submits its renewal packet and filing fee. The software counts every well the way the page counts it and compares the total with what is on file. Which option to choose is a question for a surety or counsel, and the report does not answer it.

Does the software choose between Option 1 and Option 2?

No. It shows the total each option would produce for the wells on record, and the people who hold the bond decide. The report only checks that what is on file is not below the tier.

• Count wells by every category the rule names.
• Show the Option 2 tier the count falls in.
• Show the Option 1 amount if depth data is complete.
• Flag the gap if the assurance on file is lower than the tier.

W-3X and W-3C from the same well file

The LoneSTAR page lists Form W-3X, the application for an extension of the deadline for plugging an inactive well, and Form W-3C, the certification of surface equipment removal for an inactive well. Both draw on facts about the same well.

Rule 15 asks the W-3X to carry an affirmation, made by a person with personal knowledge of the well’s condition, that electric service to the production site has been physically terminated. Where the operator does not own the surface, a well inactive five to ten years adds a statement that piping, tanks, vessels and equipment exclusive to the well are emptied or purged. At ten years or more, the statement is that surface equipment and related piping, tanks, tank batteries, pump jacks, headers, fences and firewalls are removed, open pits closed and junk and trash cleared.

The plain advice is one well file the forms draw from: dates, photographs, field notes and the name of the person who can swear to each fact. A form built from a file gets filled out once.

Who makes the W-3X affirmation?

Rule 15 says the affirmation is made by an individual with personal knowledge of the well’s physical condition. The software cannot make it. It can show who last visited the site, when, and what was recorded.

• Dates of the last site visit for each well.
• Photographs and field notes, attached to the well.
• The date electric service was disconnected.
• The surface owner, since it changes which steps apply.

Wells bought from someone else

Under Rule 15, an operator that takes over an inactive land well must keep it and its facilities in compliance and, within six months after the Commission approves the operator designation form, restore the well to active operation, plug it, or obtain an extension of the plugging deadline. If it does none of those within six months, the Commission may, after notice and opportunity for hearing, revoke the operator’s organization report.

When does the six month clock start?

On the date the Commission approves the operator designation form. The software sets a due date that day and shows it on the acquiring team’s list, ahead of the renewal itself.

Thresholds kept as settings

Rule 15 carries numbers: 12 months, five barrels, 50 Mcf, one barrel, one Mcf, 25 years, six months. State rules get amended, and the text posted on the Commission’s rules page is the one to follow.

The plain advice is to keep every threshold as a setting with a date and a rule citation beside it, not as a number buried in code. When the rule text changes, an administrator edits one setting, and the report’s history still shows which value applied on which date.

• Store the value, the effective date and the rule citation together.
• Keep the old value so a past report can be rebuilt as it read then.
• Let one administrator change a setting, and log who changed it.
• Show the setting beside any well it flags, so staff see why.

What a software development company in Texas hands the land and regulatory team

The deliverable is a short monthly list, not a dashboard to study. It is short enough to go through in ten minutes and act on that week.

For wider work on energy operations, see our energy software development page, and for map based well data, our GIS software development page.

Who fixes each exception?

An exception with no owner stays on the list until the deadline. Each row in the report carries a team name, and a row unresolved for a set number of days goes to a manager.

What happens to an exception nobody owns?

It moves up. After a set number of days the row goes to a manager, and after another set number it goes onto the weekly agenda. The goal is a list that shrinks every week until the packet arrives.

• Land staff own surface ownership flags and acquired well dates.
• Field staff own well activity, tests and equipment steps.
• Accounting owns the fee, surcharge and bank letters.
• Whoever keeps corporate records owns the name match.
• A named reviewer signs off before an authorized user files.

Where marketing and app work end

This page covers compliance software for operators. Operator websites and lead generation are on our oil and gas marketing agency page, and mobile tools for field crews are on our app development company in Texas page.

• Compliance reports for the Railroad Commission live here.
• Websites and lead generation sit on the marketing page.
• Field crew mobile tools sit on the app page.
• Map based well data sits on the GIS page.

Frequently asked questions