Basin Drilling, which has about 65 employees, is one of five companies drilling in the Black Warrior Basin, located between northeast Mississippi and northwest Alabama.

Basin Drilling is proud to be a hands-on operation that provides personalized attention to its customers, something bigger oil-drilling companies are not able to do, says Managing Partner Charles Case. The contract driller serves independent oil companies, as well as major clients such as Chevron/Texaco.

Case says a member of the Mississippi-based company's management goes out to check on its rigs every day. He says clients feel more confident when someone in his position checks on the rigs, instead of taking a lower-end employee's word on it. "It's a good thing for a client to be able to talk to the person in charge to see what's going on," he says.

Successful Area
Basin Drilling, which has about 65 employees, is one of five companies drilling in the Black Warrior Basin, located between northeast Mississippi and northwest Alabama. Case and seven partners, who had worked together previously, started the company in March 2000 because they felt a drilling company would be successful in that area, he explains.

In fact, in 2002, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated that an average of 8.5 million cubic feet of gas, 5.9 million barrels of oil and 7.6 million barrels of total natural gas liquids were undiscovered in the Black Warrior Basin.

Company Changes
Basin Drilling's original 12 employees concentrated on oil drilling, Case says. In 2005, the company began hooking up wells and laying pipelines. Today, it drills about 25 wells per year, Case says. Management at the company has changed significantly during its seven-year existence, Case says.

Out of the original eight partners, only three still are a part of the company. Along with Case, the other original partners are H.M. Berg Jr. and Mike Davis. Since the company began, it has refurbished one rig and sold the parts of another, Case says.

The company purchased a new rig in 2005 and is looking at getting a third rig in six to eight months, depending on business, he says. Basin Drilling also built a new 2,800-square-foot office in July 2006 in Aberdeen, Miss. Case says the company used to rent out offices, but needed more space because of growth.

Industry Changes
Case says the industry has seen positive trends lately, such as better oil prices and more interest in drilling wells. This is encouraging because the profit margin for its type of business is "not great," Case says.

Costs for repairs and upkeep of the drilling rigs eats away at about 60 percent of the company's profit. The company had $5 millionin gross sales in 2006, and estimates between $6 million and $7 million in gross sales for 2007, he says. Being a smaller company with only two drilling rigs, Basin Drilling is able to assess a loss or gain immediately by checking on its rigs, rather than several months down the road. "We are a small, hands-on operation, not like some of the bigger corporations who have 100 rigs," he says.

Environmental Concerns
The oil industry faces scrunity over its environmental impact, Case says. There are ongoing concerns about how the government will regulate the sector. He says a few years down the road, issues such as emissions, global warming and the greenhouse effect will significantly impact anyone who uses petroleum-based fuels. "Truthfully, I hope I'm retired by then," he says.

"We do everything that we can do to protect the environment," he continues. Case says the company is constantly changing the diesel motors on its rigs to lower emissions and be more fuel efficient. State agencies routinely inspect its sites and check for pollution, he says. The industry also faces public concerns about where it drills.