About the oil industry of the state of Alabama, USA

* First Oil Well in Alabama

On January 2, 1944, the State of Alabama granted Hunt Oil Company a permit to drill the A. R. Jackson Well No. 1 at Gilbertown, AL.  Hunt Oil Company was owned by the famous oil man, H. L. Hunt of Dallas, Texas.  The drilling commenced on January 10, 1944, and oil was struck approximately one month later at 2580 feet in fractured Selma chalk.  The discovery of this well led to the creation of the State Oil and Gas Board of Alabama in 1945, and to the development and growth of the petroleum industry in Alabama.This oil well was about two miles southwest of downtown Gilbertown, AL on the Paragon Road.  The GPS coordinates of this well are 31.869273, -88.351424.  This location is shown on the map.  The only thing present at the site today is the concrete foundation of the oil well and a Historic Marker.  There is an old Hunt oil rig at the Town Park in downtown Gilbertown that is similar to the one that struck oil.

* Oil and Gas Industry in Alabama

Mobile Bay Gas PlatformsAlabama is among the top 17 producers of oil and among the top 16 producers of natural gas in the United States. Oil and gas are found in many counties as well as in Mobile Bay. The state has developed some of the most stringent environmental regulations regarding drilling in its offshore waters. Alabama's oil production has steadily increased from an average of just over five million barrels in 2009 to nine million barrels in 2015. Alabama's natural gas production has steadily declined since 2005 but has leveled since 2012 at about 200 billion cubic feet per year. In 2015, the state the oil and gas industry contributed $11.3 billion to the Alabama economy, which was 6.4% of the state's GDP.

The A.R. Jackson No. 1 well in 1944 revealed an Alabama oilfield near the Mississippi border. Photo courtesy Hunt Oil Co.

* Current Oil and Gas Production in Alabama

 Choctaw Ridge Oil FieldWalter B. Jones's vision for Alabama has come true. Alabama now ranks 10th among the states in natural gas production and 15th in liquid petroleum. Since the first meager gas discovery at Hazel Green, thousands of wells have been drilled across the state. Most have produced nothing, but by 2007 the successful ones were producing nearly $2.5 billion worth of oil and gas annually, $500 million of which goes to Alabama's citizens in the form of taxes, royalties, and trusts. Alabama's several locally owned and operated companies join many others from across the nation and abroad to employ thousands of local workers in finding, extracting, refining, and transporting the state's petroleum resources.

Oil and gas is still being found in Alabama, and geologists believe new opportunities exist in the hard shales of the deep Black Warrior Basin beneath Pickens and Tuscaloosa Counties and in the thick fractured shales of St. Clair and neighboring counties. 

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