A new venue, a record number of exhibitors and more than 80 breakout sessions were all part of a new-look package for the more than 1,000 people – including oil and gas and pipeline operators and industry representatives – who attended the Railroad Commission of Texas’ 2025 Regulatory Conference.
Held at the Kalahari Resort and Convention Center in Round Rock, the three-day conference brought together regulators, operators and industry professionals to discuss the latest in oil and gas regulation. Guests representing 14 states, including Colorado, Oklahoma, Kansas and New Mexico, plus the District of Columbia were also in attendance.
Throughout the conference attendees had the opportunity to participate in a wide variety of breakout sessions and trainings ranging from pipeline safety emergency response to well completion to several of the RRC’s online services including LoneSTAR and PIPES.
Breakouts on Produced Water, Pipeline Safety and Inactive Well Compliance had the highest attendance with more than 200 audience members present at each session.
“Moving our conference to a larger venue gave us the opportunity to attract both more attendees and exhibitors,” said Danny Sorrells, RRC Deputy Executive Director. “And extra room for more breakout sessions allowed us to expand the important conversation around the energy industry and regulations in Texas.”
The sessions included more than 50 RRC speakers and 25 guest speakers including representatives from:
The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA)
Southern Methodist University
Texas Commission on Environmental Quality
Produced Water Society
Tetra Technologies
Williams Companies
One popular session on the first day of the conference was “Ask an Assistant Director” where leadership from the agency’s Oil and Gas Division fielded audience questions on all sorts of topics. Everything from Class VI primacy to managing the costs of well plugging were discussed, with audience members even offering suggestions and feedback based on their personal experience in the industry.
The RRC will also be using attendees’ evaluations of the conference and session as input in organizing next year’s conference.
