RRC District 6E: the East Texas Field district
District 6E is the odd one out among the Railroad Commission of Texas's 13 oil and gas districts. It isn't a set of counties: it's used for the East Texas Field, and those counties otherwise belong to District 06.
Thirteen districts, twelve on the county map
The RRC's production reporting rules list 13 valid oil and gas district codes: 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 6E, 7B, 7C, 08, 8A, 09 and 10 (Form PR filing requirements). But the RRC's county table assigns every one of the 254 Texas counties to one of the other 12; no county is listed under 6E. The district boundaries map also shows 12 county-based districts.
The same filing document adds that "leases in district 6E will be rejected if filed in district 06". So 6E is real for filings, even though it has no counties of its own.
What 6E covers
The RRC's District 6E field rules index lists orders on the special field rules for the East Texas Field, described in those orders as lying in Gregg, Rusk, Upshur, Cherokee and Smith counties. All five are assigned to District 06 and the Henderson office in the county table. The RRC's Eagle Ford page calls the Eagle Ford the source rock for "the giant East Texas Field" (RRC, Eagle Ford Shale).
In practice: a well in one of these counties may be in District 06 or in District 6E, depending on whether it is in the East Texas Field. The county alone doesn't tell you.
6E in permit data
In the RRC's daily drilling permit file, the district is stored as an internal two-digit code, as reported by the operator on the W-1 application. The OGA049M manual maps code 07 to District 6E, 06 to District 06, and codes 08 to 14 to 7B, 7C, 08, 8A, (8B, reserved and not in use), 09 and 10. Permit Watch decodes these codes, so a permit filed under 6E shows as 6E.
The RRC's monthly drilling summaries have no separate 6E column; they list 12 districts. The report doesn't say how 6E permits are counted, so this page doesn't give 6E statistics. For context, District 06 had 51, 35 and 47 original drilling permits approved in July, August and September 2026 (RRC monthly summaries).
The five counties
Each name opens that county in Permit Watch, where 6E and 06 permits appear together and can be told apart by district:
Cherokee · Gregg · Rusk · Smith · Upshur
How to watch new permits
- Permit Watch: choose one of the counties above for its permit list and free RSS feed (first data load pending until the daily update starts).
- RRC Drilling Permit (W-1) Query and the Public GIS Viewer, both on the RRC's Research Queries page. Search by district 6E, or by lease or operator.
District office
The RRC Locations page lists no separate office for 6E. The five counties are served by the Henderson office in the county table: 100 Bane Blvd, Henderson, TX 75652, phone 903-655-1840, email kilgore@rrc.texas.gov.