Oil Development In Illinois For 1923

SOME of the outstanding features of petroleum production in Illinois during 1923 were: (1) Sustained production from the older wells, due to cleaning and deepening; (2) good results from new drilling in a few localities; (3) large percentage of dry holes, many of which were ill advised tests, with a resulting high cost of the new production; (4) decrease in the number of productive wells in the state; (5) low average price of crude petroleum, a serious factor over the entire country. FIG. 1.-ANNUAL TOTALS OF ILLINOIS PRODUCTION. The total production of Illinois for 1923 was 8,710,000 bbl.,1 a decrease of 7.2 per cent. from that of 1922. Of this amount, it is estimated that about 8,500,000 bbl. were produced by old wells, many of which had been cleaned and deepened somewhat, and approximately 210,000 bbl. were obtained from the new wells drilled during the year. About 95 per cent. of the oil comes from the southeastern field in Clark, Crawford, and Lawrence Counties, where production is almost entirely from Pennsylvanian and Mississippian rocks. Extensions of the productive area were made in Clark, Wabash, Marion, and Jackson Counties. Some important gas development has been accomplished near Jacksonville, in Morgan County, and at Gillespie, in Macoupin County.