Illinois Production

Illinois oil production has remained remarkably steady through good economic times and bad over the past 20-plus years at an average of more than 9 million barrels per year.

Illinois currently ranks 16th out of 31 oil producing states in annual production, with production occurring in 45 counties. Of the more than 14,000 producing oil wells in Illinois, more than 90 percent are “stripper” wells that produce 1-2 barrels per day. Stripper wells account for 80 percent of U.S. wells and 9.5 percent of overall U.S. oil production in 2017 (781,000 barrels per day).

According to the Energy Information Administration, there are more than four billion barrels of unrecovered moveable oil in Illinois’ reservoirs. This is roughly what has been produced in the state since commercial production began in 1905.

Click the links below to access recent annual and county-by-county Illinois oil production totals.