American Oil and Gas Reporter - February 2023 - 39

ConventionSec tion: Illinois Oil & Gas Association
Tight Illinois Industry
Rolls On Together
By Del Torkelson
MT. VERNON, IL.-Stick around the
oil and natural gas business long enough,
and the globe-spanning industry that fuels
all the others can start to seem like one
big extended family, reflects Illinois Oil
& Gas Association Executive Director
Jim Elder. He says Illinois exemplifies
the industry's strong bonds.
" I have worked all over the country
and the world, and have found good
people everywhere in this business; it is
kind of one big fraternity, " he comments.
" But I cannot think of a finer bunch of
people than the folks in the Illinois oil
and gas industry. "
Small private companies predominate
among the Illinois Basin's producers and
service companies, he observes, with longstanding,
personal, close-knit relationships
comprising the fabric of the area's industry.
These ties create a culture in which companies
look out for and help one another.
That manifests itself during a period in
which personnel, supplies and services
often are stretched thin, Elder says, with
numerous instances of companies stepping
into the breach for one another.
" I hear conversations all the time between
service companies about someone
filling a gap for someone else, " he relates.
" Everyone knows each other very well,
and so everyone goes out of their way to
try to accommodate each other. "
IOGA President J. Nelson Wood notes
that the cohesive Illinois industry is scheduled
to gather again for the 2023 IOGA
Annual Convention, March 8-10 at the
Old National Events Plaza and the Doubletree
by Hilton in Evansville, In. He
predicts a positive atmosphere will pervade
that event.
" People are cautiously optimistic, " he
assesses. " Stronger oil prices are allowing
us to do a lot of workovers and catch up
on wells that were idled during the pandemic.
In Illinois, we can make a living
when the price of oil is in the $70s. "
" People are cautiously optimistic. Stronger
oil prices are allowing us to do a lot of
workovers and catch up on wells that were
idled during the pandemic. "
-J. Nelson Wood
President, IOGA
New Ideas
As the president and chief executive
officer of Wood Energy Inc. in Mt. Vernon,
Wood fits the typical Illinois profile as a
second-generation head of a family-owned
company that plans to drill a handful of
wells this year. " If the price firms, we
will increase that, " he adds.
As for the sort of projects that interest
him, Wood cites profitability as the only
indispensable theme. " I will pursue any
project that makes money, " he declares.
If companies limit their sights to the
same type of projects and execute them
with the same approach, he argues, they
cannot expect better results. By contrast,
when they target new horizons and experiment
with new approaches, Wood
considers, the basin evolves. " We are
doing new things in Illinois, " he reports.
" Some companies, mine included, are
drilling deeper into the Trenton Ordovician.
" Meanwhile, we are taking advantage
of technology with slickwater fracturing, "
Wood continues. " On the east side of the
basin, particularly White County, Il., there
is a lot of that development. I just completed
a well in that area. "
Wood calls drilling deeper and experimenting
with technologies two pillars
of the Illinois Basin's future. " We have
to catch up with other basins and learn
from them and each other, " he suggests.
" That is why IOGA's annual meeting
will feature technical sessions: to keep
operators up to speed on technology,
share what works and discuss what we
can do to improve. "
According to Elder, logistical constraints
have not halted activity, but they
do limit it. " Things are steady and everybody
is as busy as they can be, " he
reports. " But the shortage of people and
a backlog of services and supplies confines
their abilities. They are working at maximum
within those confines, but they
would do more without those constraints. "
Regarding labor constraints, workers
with commercial driver's licenses are
particularly dear, Wood assesses. " Federal
regulations now require a certified
course-usually through a junior college-to
obtain a CDL, which has cut
the availability of workers that have
them, " he points out. " Those who have a
CDL are being hired quickly, and consequently
there is a shortage. "
Such labor shortages are exacerbated
by a slow supply chain that also tends to
have its roots in personnel problems. " The
supply chain is improving from a year
ago, but it is still slow because this employment
issue filters down to the supply
houses and manufacturers, " Wood notes.
" They have trouble finding people as well
at a time in which our country has the
lowest unemployment rate of my lifetime. "
And since inflation has hit the oil field
FEBRUARY 2023 39
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