With crude prices on the upswing, area oil producers are starting to see a new spurt in activity.
But, several oil operators say the Kansas Corporation Commission, which regulates the state's oil and gas production, makes it difficult for them to profit now that better times for the industry have returned.
They met with KCC officials this week to discuss concerns about what they view as incompetence and overzealous enforcement.
Bob McDaniel, a former oil producer from Ottawa, told officials he gave up his operator's license in 1998 because of problems he had with KCC. Last year, for example, the commission alleged he was selling oil from wells although he didn't own the leases. He said KCC later dismissed the case after determining he could not have sold gas because the electricity was not turned on.
He said his experience with KCC is all too common.
"We need a level playing field," McDaniel said. "The independent operator is getting run over every day."
Other operators like John Galemore and his son, Matt, of Chanute said they repeatedly sent documentation when ownership changed on oil and gas leases because KCC said it never received the paperwork, often months or even years later.
"I don't want to be in an adversarial position, but you know you've got problems," John Galemore told KCC officials.
Morris Korphage, director of KCC's conservation division, acknowledged the agency has had problems merging two data systems, which track 15,000 wells, 9,000 in eastern Kansas.
"Things fall through the cracks when you have 15,000 wells," he said.
J.D. Johannes, an aide for U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., said lawmakers are interested in the operators' concerns.
"From a public policy position, we need to look at a way to maximize domestic oil production and do it in an environmentally safe fashion," he said. "If we don't do all we can to increase production, we could be in a serious energy crunch."
Not all operators are complaining.
Jim Mietchen of rural Baldwin said he hasn't had any run-ins with the KCC.
The formerly retired oil explorer, who drilled about 600 wells in Douglas and Franklin counties during the 1980s, has come out of retirement and is looking at new territory.
Mietchen, through his F&M Oil Enterprises, has leased 16,000 acres in Nemaha County and recently started drilling a 4,000-foot well near Goff.
Mietchen's land is near fields owned by Cities Service Oil Co., which produced more than 1.6 million barrels on the land during the 1980s.
Mietchen sold his last leases near Vinland in 1988, but decided now was a good time to get back in the business thanks to high oil prices.
"When it gets down to $9 and $10 a barrel, you're operating at a loss every day and you have to get out of the business," he said. "The fact is there could be some profit in it again.
"I'm betting we will find oil and make a profit."
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