Original Discovery
The Illinois Basin has a rich history dating back to its original discovery in 1889 (Vigo Co. Indiana) by John Rockefeller's American Oil Corporation Since then, Amoco has grown into a global oil and gasoline conglomerate; it was merged with British Petroleum in 1998 to form BP Amoco, which was later rebranded to BP.
Geology
The Illinois Basin is an interior cratonic basin covering approximately 53,000 square miles in central and southern Illinois,
southwestern Indiana, and western Kentucky
Statistics
The Illinois Basin has over 60 pay zones (depths in which oil has been produced). It has produced over 4.5 billion barrels of oil and has 4.1 billion barrels in estimated future recoverable reserves. The Basin currently produces around 15.2 million barrels of oil annually and has a 36% overall recovery efficiency which is the highest in onshore development within the U.S. Annual Oil and Gas production from the Illinois Basin is valued at over $3.5 Billion.
Oil and Gas History
| First "boom" | 1905 - 1915 (disover of anticlines) |
| Second "boom" | 1937 - 1943 (seismic, stratigrapic traps) |
| Third "boom" | 1954 - 1964 (fracing, waterflooding) |
| Fourth "boom" | 1980 - 1986 (oil prices) |
| Fifth "boom" | 2006 - ? (oil prices, 3D seismic, natural gas drilling) |
LARGEST FIELDS
Lawrence
Location: Lawrence Co., Illinois
Discovery: 1906
Geology: LaSalle Anticlinal Belt
Production: 433 million barrels cumulative
Salem Consolidated
Location: Marion and Jefferson Co., Illinois
Discovery: 1938
Geology: Salem-Louden Anticline
Production: 402 million barrels cumulative
Louden
Location: Fayette and Effingham Co., Illinois
Discovery: 1937
Geology: Salem-Louden Anticline
Production: 396 million barrels cumulative
Clay City Consolidated
Location: Clay, Wayne, Richland and Jasper Co., Illinois
Discovery: 1937
Geology: Clay City Anticline
Production: 371 million barrels cumulative
Main Consolidated Field
Location: Crawford and Jasper Co., Illinois
Discovery: 1906
Geology: LaSalle Anticlinal Belt
Production: 265 million barrels cumulative
