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Oil & Gas Facts
| Current
Stats |
| There
are approximately 32,100 oil and gas production wells, 10,500 Class II injection
wells and 1,750 gas storage wells in Illinois. These wells are controlled
by 1,500 operators. |
There
is oil production in 40 of the 102 counties in Illinois. Most of the production
is located in the southern part of Illinois. |
| The
oil producing area of Illinois is part of a geologic structure or province
known as the Illinois Basin. The Illinois
Basin covers southern Illinois, western Kentucky and western Indiana.
|
Approximately
800 drilling permits for oil, gas and injection wells are issued each year.
|
| The
Division of Oil & Gas conducts approximately 22,000 inspections per
year and initiates approximately 3,500 enforcement actions each year.
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The
majority of wells in Illinois are stripper wells with a daily production
of 1.5 barrels per day. |
| Historical
Info |
| The
first attempt at drilling oil wells occurred near Champaign, Illinois in
1853. These wells produced "swamp gas" or "drift gas" from glacial till
-- but no oil. |
Since
1853, approximately 155,000 oil, gas, and injection wells have been drilled
in Illinois. |
| The
first oil wells were drilled in Clark and Montgomery counties in the early
1860s. |
Commercial
oil production began in Illinois in 1905. 181,000 barrels of oil were produced
in 1905. |
| Most
oil produced in Illinois from 1894 through 1937 was produced from shallow
zones (formations less than 1,000 feet), In 1937 deeper zones were discovered
(formations from 2,500 to 3,500 feet). The deepest well ever drilled in
Illinois was over 13,000 feet deep. |
The
State of Illinois has had a program regulating the oil and gas industry
since 1939. |
| Peak
oil production occurred in Illinois between 1955 and 1963 with an average
yearly production of 80 million barrels. |
The
current yearly production is approximately 10-12 million barrels per year.
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Division's Weekly Drill Log
