Pipeline companies in Texas: operators, builders and the state lists that name them

This report is for producers and shippers looking for takeaway capacity, landowners and job seekers trying to identify a pipeline company, contractors looking for operators to work for, and B2B sellers whose customers are midstream firms or pipeline builders.

Operators and builders: two counts

US Census Bureau County Business Patterns (CBP) 2023 counts the two businesses separately:

The Census Bureau published an employee count for pipeline transportation but flagged it as high-noise (the noise it adds for confidentiality changed it by 5% or more), so we don't report it. The builders' figures are reliable: $4,848,465,000 of annual payroll, or $90,321 per employee by our calculation. That code also covers storage tanks, pumping stations, gas processing plants and refinery construction. Texas ranks first in both. For operators, Louisiana is second with 299 establishments, then Pennsylvania (162) and Oklahoma (155).

Operators by product

Employee counts for each code are high-noise and not reported. Natural gas pipeline establishments include gas storage. Companies that only operate oil and gas field gathering lines are classed in oil and gas extraction, so they aren't in this count.

In broad bands, 610 establishments (80%) have fewer than 20 employees, 136 have 20 to 99 and 17 have 100 or more. The last figure is derived as the total less the smaller bands, because the Census Bureau doesn't publish the 250 to 499 or 1,000-or-more cells; that leaves 1 establishment between them. CBP counts locations with paid employees, not companies, and a head office may be classed under management of companies instead.

Miles of pipe, from the Railroad Commission

That is up from 452,026 miles in 2023. The Railroad Commission (RRC) regulates intrastate lines; the interstate figure comes from operators' annual reports to the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. The RRC requires T-4 permits for transmission, gathering and flow lines as defined in its Rule 3.70 (16 TAC 3.70).

Who runs the pipe: the RRC operator lists

The RRC's operator address lists, dated 18 September 2026, name 542 gas transmission operators (including LNG and underground storage) and 238 hazardous liquids operators. Because 103 companies appear on both, the lists name about 680 companies in all; 177 gas and 105 liquids operators give a Houston address. Most are small: of the 541 gas transmission entries we could read, 266 list fewer than 10 miles, 197 list 10 to 99, 65 list 100 to 999 and 13 list 1,000 or more. The liquids list splits 80, 100, 47 and 11.

Names and miles are as the RRC lists them. The lists also give each operator's business address and a contact, which makes them a free, official prospect list.

Listed midstream companies based in Texas

SEC EDGAR files these companies under natural gas transmission or pipelines; each figure is from its 2025 10-K:

Plains GP Holdings consolidates Plains All American and reports the same revenue. EDGAR files three gas compression companies in the same code: Archrock (Houston, $1,489.8 million), Kodiak Gas Services (The Woodlands, $1,308.1 million) and USA Compression Partners (Dallas, $998.1 million). For producers, see oil and gas companies in Texas.

How to identify and check a Texas pipeline company

1. Decide which business you need. Operators hold RRC T-4 permits and appear on the operator lists; construction contractors don't.
2. Find who runs a line. The RRC's Public GIS Viewer maps permitted intrastate pipelines, and PHMSA's National Pipeline Mapping System Public Viewer shows federally regulated transmission lines without an account.
3. Check the safety record. The RRC publishes pipeline enforcement data on its reports page, and PHMSA publishes federal enforcement cases.
4. For contract work, check operator qualification. Every operator must follow a written program to qualify the people doing covered tasks (49 CFR 192.805 for gas, 195.505 for liquids), so a contractor's crews need records for the tasks they'll do.
5. Know who doesn't decide routes. The RRC says it has no routing or siting authority for intrastate lines and doesn't handle easement disputes; the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission reviews interstate gas pipelines.

Selling to Texas pipeline companies

Operators buy on regulatory deadlines and integrity schedules, so a pitch tied to a specific rule or inspection interval beats a general efficiency claim. Builders buy project by project, often from the operator's approved list.

Illustrative example. The seller, price and win rate are invented; the counts are from the RRC lists.

Caprock Integrity (caprock.example) analyzes in-line inspection data. Its best fit is the 103 operators listing 100 to 999 miles: enough pipe to need regular inspection, too little for a large in-house integrity team. At $60,000 a year and a 10% win rate (10 operators), that's $600,000 a year. It starts with operators that have filed new T-4 permits or posted integrity engineer jobs. Bebop can find operators matching that description and draft the first email.

Subject: Inspection data on your [system] lines

Hi [first name],

[Company] runs about [miles] miles in Texas, which usually means inspection runs that come back faster than a small team can assess them.

We turn in-line inspection results into a ranked dig list with the regulatory deadline next to each anomaly.

Would it help to see your last run worked through that way?

[Your name]

Texas sources

Next step: for the producers these pipelines serve, read the report on oil and gas companies in Texas.