Wellbore Plugging Records
Queryable Fixed-width
W-3 plugging reports: when a well was plugged, to what depth, and with what.
Get the data
Free. You will be asked to confirm an email address before the files are built — that is the only gate, and it is there so we can tell you when a large export is ready.
What this is
Record type 09. The plugging record: the date the W-3 was filed, the date the wellbore was actually plugged, total depth at plugging, the cement and mud used, the fresh water depth protected and whether the job was funded by the state.
477,000 plugging records — the definitive answer to whether a well is still a hole in the ground.
What you can do with it
Separate plugged wells from live ones, count state-funded plugging by district and year, and check whether a well near a property was properly abandoned.
Gotchas
The W-3 filing date and the date the well was actually plugged are different columns and can be years apart.
A state-funded plug number being present means the taxpayer paid for the job because the operator did not — that is a meaningful signal, not an administrative detail.
Record layout
32 columns. Byte positions are 1-based and come from the RRC record layout, so you can check our decoding against the original file yourself.
wb_plugging
32 columns
| # | Column | Type | Bytes | RRC name | Meaning | Lookup |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
api_county
key
join
|
text | — | — | The three-digit county component of the API number. For offshore wells this is the nearest onshore county, not the well's actual location. | — |
| 2 |
api_unique
key
join
|
text | — | — | The five-digit well component of the API number. Unique only in combination with the county code. | — |
| 3 |
date_w3_filed
key
|
date | 3-10 | WB-DATE-W3-FILED |
Date the Form W-3 plugging report was filed, CCYYMMDD. | — |
| 4 |
date_well_bore_plugged
|
date | 11-18 | WB-DATE-WELL-BORE-PLUGGED |
Date the bore was plugged, CCYYMMDD. | — |
| 5 |
plug_total_depth
|
integer measured in ft | 19-23 | WB-PLUG-TOTAL-DEPTH |
Total depth at plugging, feet. | — |
| 6 |
plug_cement_comp
|
text | 24-55 | WB-PLUG-CEMENT-COMP |
Cement company that performed the plugging. | — |
| 7 |
plug_mud_filled
|
text | 56 | WB-PLUG-MUD-FILLED |
Y when the hole was mud filled. | — |
| 8 |
plug_dril_perm_date
|
date | 76-83 | WB-PLUG-DRIL-PERM-DATE |
Date of the drilling permit under which the bore was drilled. | — |
| 9 |
plug_dril_perm_no
|
text | 84-89 | WB-PLUG-DRIL-PERM-NO |
Drilling permit number the bore was drilled under. | — |
| 10 |
plug_dril_comp_date
|
date | 90-97 | WB-PLUG-DRIL-COMP-DATE |
Date drilling was completed. | — |
| 11 |
plug_log_attached
|
text | 98 | WB-PLUG-LOG-ATTACHED |
Y when a log was attached to the plugging report. | — |
| 12 |
plug_type_log
|
text | 131 | WB-PLUG-TYPE-LOG |
Type of log: D, E, R, A or a combination. | — |
| 13 |
plug_fresh_water_depth
|
integer measured in ft | 132-136 | WB-PLUG-FRESH-WATER-DEPTH |
Base of usable-quality water, feet. | — |
| 14 |
plug_type_well
|
text | 200 | WB-PLUG-TYPE-WELL |
Type of well plugged: O oil, G gas, D dry, S service. | — |
| 15 |
plug_multi_compl_flag
|
text | 201 | WB-PLUG-MULTI-COMPL-FLAG |
Y when the bore had multiple completions. | — |
| 16 |
plug_log_released_date
|
date | 204-211 | WB-PLUG-LOG-RELEASED-DATE |
Date the log was released. | — |
| 17 |
state_funded_plug_number
|
text | 220-226 | WB-STATE-FUNDED-PLUG-NUMBER |
State-funded plugging job number, when Texas paid to plug the well. | — |
| 18 |
ingested_at
|
timestamptz | — | — | When the upstream pipeline last wrote this row. Not an RRC field — it is EZRRC's provenance stamp, and it is what the freshness badge is measured against. | — |
| 19 |
plug_log_released_to
|
text | 99-130 | WB-PLUG-LOG-RELEASED-TO |
Who the log was released to. | — |
| 20 |
plug_log_file_rba
|
text | 212-219 | WB-PLUG-LOG-FILE-RBA |
Pointer into RRC's separate log file. | — |
| 21 |
plug_cem_aff
|
text | 202 | WB-PLUG-CEM-AFF |
Y when a cement affidavit accompanied the plugging report. | — |
| 22 |
plug_mud_applied
|
text | 57-68 | WB-PLUG-MUD-APPLIED |
Description of the mud applied. | — |
| 23 |
plug_mud_weight
|
integer measured in lb/gal | 69-71 | WB-PLUG-MUD-WEIGHT |
Mud weight, pounds per gallon. | — |
| 24 |
plug_material_left
|
text | 177 | WB-PLUG-MATERIAL-LEFT |
Y when material was left in the hole. | — |
| 25 |
plug_uwqp
|
text | 137-176 | WB-PLUG-UWQP |
Usable-quality water protection intervals, four from/to pairs packed into one field. | — |
| 26 |
plug_13a
|
text | 203 | WB-PLUG-13A |
Y when a Statewide Rule 13(a) exception applied. | — |
| 27 |
plug_oil_code
|
text | 178 | WB-PLUG-OIL-CODE |
'O' when the plugged completion sat on the oil schedule. | — |
| 28 |
plug_oil_dist
|
text | 179-180 | WB-PLUG-OIL-DIST |
District of the plugged oil lease. | — |
| 29 |
plug_oil_lse_nbr
|
text | 181-185 | WB-PLUG-OIL-LSE-NBR |
Oil lease number of the plugged completion. | — |
| 30 |
plug_oil_well_nbr
|
text | 186-191 | WB-PLUG-OIL-WELL-NBR |
Well number of the plugged completion. | — |
| 31 |
plug_gas_dist
|
text | 192-193 | WB-PLUG-GAS-DIST |
District of the plugged gas well ID. | — |
| 32 |
plug_gas_well_no
|
text | 194-199 | WB-PLUG-GAS-WELL-NO |
Gas well ID of the plugged completion. | — |
What this joins to
The Railroad Commission never states these keys anywhere in the files. They are the reason the data is hard to use, so here they are with the exact columns on both sides.
Wellbore Plugging Records joins to Full Wellbore Database (ASCII) on API county and API unique — many rows here share a single row there.
its plugging record
The W-3 plugging report. Present only for wells that have been plugged. Keyed on the API county and unique number, which is how every record type in WBA091 hangs off its root record.
full-wellbore-ascii.api_county = wellbore-plugging.api_county AND full-wellbore-ascii.api_unique = wellbore-plugging.api_unique
Where this comes from
- Published by
- Texas Railroad Commission — the original page
- Original format
- Fixed-width Columns are byte ranges with no separators, described only in a scanned record layout.
- Update cadence
- Updated once a week (Weekly, with the wellbore database.)
- RRC download link
- GoAnywhere MFT
- Record layout manual
- Our table
texas.wb_plugging
EZRRC is an independent mirror of public-domain data published by the Texas Railroad Commission. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by the RRC. For any legal or regulatory purpose, verify against the official RRC release.