A test of oil-eating microbes is underway at a retired fossil-fuel field in the Central Valley An oil pump jack at the Midway-Sunset Oil Field near Derby Acres, Calif.

Gov. Greg Abbott signed all three this month in Midland, saying in a statement that Texas is “bringing the full weight of the law to crack down on oil theft in the Permian Basin to protect the ...

“Sometimes the oil field still surprises us.” One person who’s not surprised is Sarah Stogner, the district attorney for three West Texas counties in the Permian Basin.

In a statement to The Texas Tribune, Darby called oil field theft “a complex, highly coordinated criminal enterprise, often with direct connections to cartels.