OIL: Texas Cut

Texas independent oil producers, hard-hit by the growing U.S. oil surplus, took stern measures to end their troubles. At their request, the Texas Railroad Commission last week cut back the state's crude production for March from an eleven-day-per-month operating rate to nine days—the lowest rate ever set by the 28-year-old commission. The flow of oil from Texas' 182,000 wells will be cut by 513,814 barrels daily.

Despite a hard winter, stocks of heating oil are still far above last year's level; gasoline stocks are at an alltime high. Refiners in Oklahoma and Texas have been forced to cut crude prices,...