Essays on the industrial composition of Texas oil and gas production

This dissertation examines the changes in Texas oil and gas production from 1970--1996. Chapter II applies the survivor technique to the 300 largest oil producing firms in Texas for the years 1970--1996. The survivor technique is a powerful method to determine the efficient scale of production in a competitive industry. While previous applications of the survivor technique did not yield conclusive findings, Texas oil production is a competitive industry for which the technique provides clear results. Specifically, the technique shows that firms producing more than 100,000 barrels of oil per day in Texas have higher opportunity costs of production.;Chapter III describes the size distribution of firms in Texas oil production. The Pareto distribution is found to correctly describe the size distribution of the 300 largest firms producing oil in Texas from 1970--1996, while the lognormal distribution is conclusively rejected. The k-firm concentration ratio reveals that Texas oil production became relatively less concentrated over this period. A simple relationship between the concentration ratio and the parameters of the Pareto distribution is defined and estimates of the Pareto distribution parameters are used to show that the size distribution of firms did not change significantly over the period 1970--1996.;The fourth chapter analyses the impact of the changes in the regulatory environment of the Texas natural gas industry. In 1970, natural gas producers faced a quagmire of regulations governing the sale and price of their gas. Today, natural gas is a commodity traded freely in spot and futures markets. This chapter examines the pattern of production that resulted from this changing regulatory environment by examining the behavior of nine natural gas producing firms in Texas over the period 1970--1996. Each of these firms appeared on the list of the Texas top four natural gas producers at least once over this period. The analysis reveals that the majors have systematically decreased their emphasis on Texas natural gas, while the independents have increased production in Texas.