Illinois oil production likely to increase amid Russian sanctions

ILLINOIS (WFIE) - As Russian attacks continue against Ukraine, oil prices are soaring.

Sanctions against Russia mean U.S. producers are having to up their efforts.

This means oil drilling operations will rise in the Tri-State, especially in Illinois.

14 News spoke with Seth Whitehead, executive director of the Illinois Petroleum Resources Board. He says right now, demand for oil and gas is at an all-time high.

Supply was already down over the last two years due to COVID-19, and removing Russia from the international market just makes things worse.

He says that independent companies are about to start drilling more and more in our area to try to compensate for that and get prices back down.

Whitehead says there are some challenges, particularly in workforce shortages, but with prices this high, everyone has the incentive to put a stop to it.

“That’s so negative for the country as a whole, it affects everybody, including oil producers,” Whitehead said. “The cost of doing business goes up so much. It really is something that you’ll talk to oil producers and they’ll tell you they don’t want to see prices this high, it’s too high.”

Whitehead says the Illinois basin only provides 10-12 million barrels of oil a year. The U.S. uses around 23 million barrels each day.

It’s only a small chunk of the world’s oil production, but it’ll see the same production increase the rest of the world will.

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