Good times return to Oil City

By Matthew Wells
BBC News, Pennsylvania

The Hubers hope to bring several dozen old wells back online

Car-obsessed America may be hurting from record petrol prices, but one group of backwoodsmen have never had it so good.

On the hillsides above Oil City, where the petroleum business was born, small independent producers who could barely survive a few years ago, are rediscovering the meaning of "black gold".

Bill Huber, 67, still uses most of the same clunking and screeching machinery that his grandfather installed more than 100 years ago.

Oil City used to be home to more millionaires than anywhere else in the world

Getting to his small wells, scattered deep in the forest, requires a four-wheel drive vehicle. The rusty powerhouse is a maze of wheels, and pulleys, but every day, he patiently manages to get a few litres out of the ground.

The smell of waxy Pennsylvania crude is thick in the air, but now that it's worth more than $100 a barrel, he can aim to make more than $9,000 per month, before expenses.

'Tobacco-infused chuckle'

"I took a lot of criticism...(people said) why do you want to lose money all the time? A neighbour over there just drilled 14 new wells. He'll probably have his money back in 35 to 40 days," said Bill.

With oil prices rising, even small businesses are booming

"You see a lot of new trucks now. Five years ago, everyone was driving an old clunker - including us," he added, with a tobacco-infused chuckle.

Although the hope is to bring several dozen old wells back online, and hire a few workers, the Hubers - father and son - have no illusions about becoming millionaires anytime soon.

But the experts say there is plenty more oil left. The family has patiently pumped up only about 20% of the oil that's available under their land.

"We don't have to struggle so hard to get the bills paid. Most of the time, there's a little bit left between tanks now," said Bill.

Oil renaissance

Back down in the valley, Oil City used to be home to more millionaires than anywhere else in the world. But the first oil boom gradually became a trickle, and the big oil companies finally abandoned Pennsylvania for places like Texas, 20 years ago.

Now a greenfield site, "McClintock No. 1" used to be dwarfed by refineries and factories that blanketed the whole valley

The grand red-brick headquarters of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil, is home to a diverse array of local businesses, including the region's business promoter, the Oil Region Alliance.

President, Randy Seitz said that the small producers were playing an important role in reviving a local economy that's lost half its workforce in recent decades.

"They have more disposable income now than they ever had, and they're spending it with our local retailers, which is great for our economy."

The Drake Well was the first to be drilled in the history of commercial oil.

The alliance is encouraging a new generation of young people to repopulate Oil City, including a programme to convert some floors of the Standard Oil building into artists' studios.

This subtler oil renaissance will be more diverse than the first time round, said Mr Seitz, and one sizeable Canadian oil company is already planning to start digging oil out of the ground here soon.

"People who normally wouldn't have put money behind a Bill Huber, are now saying, 'Wow: I'm getting a better return of this, than I am off the stock market'."

Good times back

Just a few miles out of town, what's believed to be the world's oldest continually-producing commercial oil well is still fitfully pumping.

Now a green field site, "McClintock No. 1" used to be dwarfed by refineries and factories that blanketed the whole valley.

The man who lovingly maintains the old well, has seen it all himself.

Augie Holtz, 79, had a long career in oil operating, and hopes that the good times really are now returning to this depressed region, despite the looming recession.

Alongside the stratospheric oil price, the cost of living has also never been higher, and that should be borne in mind with all the talk of a new boom.

"I can't believe what they want for tubing, and everything made out of steel has doubled. And of course the price of labour has gone up for drilling oil," he said.

Drivers in the US are facing the prospect soon of paying five dollars at the pump for a gallon of petrol. In most other parts of the world, that milestone was passed a long time ago.

The director of the valley's picturesque Drake Well Museum, Barbara Zolli, is gearing up for the 150th anniversary next year of the eponymous well, that was the very first to be drilled in the history of commercial oil.

"This will prompt us to be looking for alternatives far more seriously...and to become far more reasonable about what our lifestyles depend on," she said.