Surge in Oil and Gas Drilling in Kansas

The oil industry is coming back on the Great plains -- an unthinkable scenario just a few years ago. This article demonstrates the value of forward thinking. It tells of one man who bought up steel for oil rigs back when steel and oil were much cheeper. Now he's reaping the rewards with a drilling company in great demand.

Kansas sees biggest surge in oil and gas drilling in more than a decade (Kansas City Star Article) Article Excerpt: "At the height of the last oil boom in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Kenny and Darrell Roach essentially went straight from high school to the oil fields - when more than 250 rigs were operating across the state. Then the industry busted and the family of about a half-dozen oil drillers watched as many of their comrades called it quits. Wells were abandoned. Unused rigs were sold for scrap. By 1999, prices had fallen to a low of $8 a barrel. At one point, only nine rigs were drilling for oil in the state.
Today, with prices staying higher, old rigs are being dragged out of junkyards, and schools are starting classes to help train workers. New drilling companies, including one started by the Roaches' brother Robin, are forming.
This is oil country, and the industry is coming back to life, Kenny Roach said.
'Everyone's busy,' he said from the well site near Lewis, about 100 miles west of Wichita. 'We have our own backlog of a few months.'
The Kansas Corporation Commission, which regulates oil and gas production, already has issued nearly 1,100 oil and gas drilling permits this year, said Dave Williams, production supervisor for the KCC." AP Wire 5-22-05