Hulman family strikes gusher of oil
Yep, it's the farm of the family best known as the owners of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Known as Hulman Farms #1, the well has been flowing in a test for 21 days and is producing about 400 barrels of Indiana oil a day. The well could produce more; however, the flow is being held down to preserve the natural resource rather than let it run unchecked, according to an announcement from CountryMark.
The well is within an ancient geologic formation known as the Illinois Basin, which has been a dependable source of domestic oil covering about 35,000 square miles in Indiana, Illinois and Kentucky.
CountryMark, which has 95 gas stations in Indiana and neighboring states, buys only crude from the Illinois Basin and refines it into gasoline at a plant at Mount Vernon.
Company officials said a typical oil well in Indiana flows about 4 barrels a day, and good wells produce closer to 100 barrels a day.
So a 400-barrel well is considered one of the most significant oil discoveries in 25 years and it may signal an important new oil field for Vigo County, in the southwest Indiana area east of Terre Haute.
CountryMark is a farmer-owned cooperative and is Indiana's only American-owned oil exploration, production, refining and marketing company. Its plant refines about 26,800 barrels a day.
CountryMark President Charlie Smith said the Hulman farm discovery, along with other drilling activities by CountryMark and other producers in the state, are steps toward American independence from foreign oil. Indy Star