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Illinois

Oil and gas well records

Agency Illinois Department of Natural Resources

The Office of Oil and Gas Resource Management of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) takes the permit applications for Illinois oil and gas wells, and its page of facts says it makes about 30,000 inspections and starts about 3,000 enforcement actions a year. The office's home page places its main office in Springfield and its district offices in Mount Carmel and Centralia; its Contacts page also lists a Springfield District Office.

In a Phase I ESA

ASTM E1527-21 does not name well records among its standard record sources. The general reading of a well at or near a property is on Oil or gas well on or near the subject property. On an Illinois property in or near an oil field, the IDNR well file is where to learn what was permitted, drilled and completed.

  • Drilling began before state regulation. IDNR's facts page puts the wells drilled in Illinois for oil, gas and injection since 1853 at some 155,000, and dates the state's regulation of the industry to 1939. Its current counts are 23,402 production wells, 1,078 gas storage wells and 6,535 Class II injection wells. On a property in an old field, check the site visit and old aerial photographs as well as the records.
  • The forms show what a file can hold. Among the forms IDNR posts are the permit application for a production well (Form OG-10), the well drilling report (OG-05) and the well completion report (OG-09), with a supplement for horizontal and directional wells (OG-09A) added in June 2026. For an injection well, the permit application is Form OG-03 and the yearly report is OG-18. Others cover a permittee's tank battery registration (OG-19), a spill report by the permittee (OG-12A), and the notice of a well's transfer and of its acceptance (OG-26CP and OG-26NP). Ask for the forms that fit the well.
  • Ask about plugging records. The only posted form whose name speaks of a plugging record is for test holes (OG-08). Ask the office what it holds on how and when a production or injection well was plugged.
  • An idle well may be in temporary abandonment. An announcement on the forms page dated July 7, 2026 says every request for temporary abandonment starts with an inspection by the district office, and that a first request is treated as denied if the completed forms and the $100 fee for each well do not reach Springfield within 60 days of the approved date. The fee table posted with the January 2023 increases shows $100 a year for each well in that status. For an idle well on the property, ask whether it holds that status.
  • Some records may be held back. IDNR's FOIA page names the Illinois Oil & Gas Act among the statutes whose confidentiality terms can limit what a request releases.
  • Spills go to other agencies. IDNR's complaint page says its citizen complaint form is not for an emergency spill, which it sends to Illinois EPA and the Illinois Emergency Management Agency. See Emergency Response.

Where to look a site up

  • The Oil & Gas Weekly Permit Logs page loads its list by script, with columns for title and date; the forms page says the logs are updated weekly. This handbook did not read the list.
  • IDNR's state and federal plugging work is on the Plugging and Restoration Fund (PRF) page.
  • The IDNR oil and gas pages read link no search or map of every permitted well.
  • The district offices: Mount Carmel, 2517 W. Ninth St., Mount Carmel IL 62863, at 618-262-2107 on the Contacts page and 618-262-2106 on the complaint page, DNR.OOGRMMtc@illinois.gov; Centralia, 800 S. Locust St., Centralia IL 62801, 618-533-8979, DNR.OOGRMCent@illinois.gov. For Springfield, One Natural Resources Way, Springfield IL 62702-1271, the Contacts page gives 217-558-2037 for the district office and 217-782-7756 for the main office, and the complaint page gives 217-782-7756 and DNR.OOGRMSpfldDist@illinois.gov.

Getting the file

IDNR takes written requests under 5 ILCS 140, the state's Freedom of Information Act, and its FOIA page says each program office answers for its own records. A request can go through the FOIA Online Submittal, by mail or special carrier to Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Attn: FOIA Officer, One Natural Resources Way, Springfield, IL 62702-1271, by email, or by fax to 217-785-2438. IDNR's request form helps but is not required.

IDNR says each office files its records in its own way, by such things as date, location, facility, person or project, in electronic form, as digital images, on microfilm or on paper, and that a record that cannot be copied well may need to be viewed on site or copied by a commercial vendor. So name the Office of Oil and Gas Resource Management, and give the county, the section, township and range, and any well name or permit number you have. The FOIA page read gives no reply time or fee. IDNR's FOIA rules are 2 Ill. Adm. Code 826.

Sources

Illinois Department of Natural Resources pages, read October 17, 2026:

Maintained by Barrow. General reference only, not legal or professional advice. Barrow is not affiliated with any government agency, and neither Barrow nor the information as presented here is endorsed by any state or government agency. See how Barrow drafts the report