Oil still has its ups, downs

By MIKE CORN

Hays Daily News

It's tough finding an oil man who isn't smiling these days.

It is, after all, some of the best times the industry has witnessed in almost 20 years, according to Dan Schippers, of DaMar Resources in Hays and a member of the board of the Kansas Independent Oil and Gas Association.

Oil production appears to have dipped a bit in 2004, but with Kansas crude oil prices prices hovering at $46 a barrel, conditions are much better than when oil was fetching less than a fourth of that.

In fact, at least one economist at Kansas State University is speculating that oil has been the driving force behind the region's economy.

That's because the wealth is being spread across the board, all the way from the people who drill wells to the landowners who get royalty checks in the mail each month.

“The price of oil has been great,” said Joe Hess, who leads Dreiling Oil of Hays.

The downside of the boom in the oil patch is that it's been difficult for vendors, suppliers, drillers and service companies to stay abreast of the rising demand from the oil patch.

Drilling rigs are in short supply even though just a few short years ago, only one traveled the rural roads of northwest Kansas.

“We just finished up a well last week,” Hess said recently.

In some cases, it takes two to three weeks to get a driller out to a location, the demand is that strong.

That and the lack of personnel to operate the rig, many of them lost when the big bust in oil came about in the late 1980s when prices fell as low as $9 a barrel.

“They don't have the qualified hands out there in the field,” Hess said. “I don't envy them any. I don't think I'd want to be running a rig.”

Dreiling Oil is an oil producer that reflects what has happened in the oil business over the years.

“We used to have pulling rigs,” Hess said of the units that would rework oil wells to better production. “We sold ours five or six years ago.”

As a result, it has had to rely on other providers, specifically Express Well Service in Victoria.

Unlike some oil producers, Hess said he doesn't have much of a wait when he needs a pulling unit.

“I think we're on their priority list,” he said.

Even though the oil business is booming — in some cases like it hasn't been seen in years — not everyone is excited about diving headlong into the rush of business.

At Hertel Tank Service, economic doldrums in the oil patch was cause for belt tightening and scaling back the size of the operation.

Today, it's a family-run business with family members making up the work force.

“We been there and I don't want to go back,” said John Hertel.

At Dreiling Oil, Hess said caution is still the watchword.

“We try to keep a very close eye on things because we don't know how long it will last,” Hess said of the boom. “We plan on being in business a good many years. So we don't run very fast.”

Managing editor Mike Corn can be reached at (785) 628-1081, ext. 129, or by e-mail at

mcorn@dailynews.net.