A silver lining in oil prices

A visit to the fuel pump is about to get more painful.

Crude oil prices are expected to reach $100 a barrel any time now, and some are predicting gasoline could hit $4.50 a gallon next summer.

That's a big issue for those of use who live miles from our work; that fuel bill comes right out of our bank account. A surprising number of us commute to work -- the highway between Culbertson and Indianola is one of the busiest around.

The price of oil makes everything more expensive, from the food delivered by trucks to the heat in our homes -- even natural gas prices go up as some utilities and other big users switch from oil to gas.

But you only have to look out the window on your drive through the Golden Plains to see a silver lining.

Dotted here and there, the "nodding donkeys" that pull oil from the ground are hard at work. It's unusual to see one that isn't pumping, and you may even see a drilling rig or at least a pulling unit in operation to keep the crude oil flowing.

We often forget what an important industry oil is to Nebraska, which produced 2,312,955 barrels of oil in 2006. At $100 a barrel, it's easy to measure the economic impact on the state.

Hitchcock County is the leading oil producing county in the area, with 551,472 barrels of oil last year flowing from 319 wells. Only Kimball County, with 698,344 barrels from 166 wells, produced more last year.

Figures in other counties are just as interesting: 1,215 barrels from one well in Chase County, 167,928 barrels from 101 wells in Dundy County, 24,890 from four wells in Frontier, 15,445 from 24 wells in Furnas, 45,788 from 11 wells in Hayes, and 305,542 from 185 wells in Red Willow County.

The Sleepy Hollow field in Red Willow County was the second most productive oil field in the state, with 168,864 barrels.

And they're still looking. In April, the most recent month available, companies applied for one well each in Dundy, Hitchcock and Red Willow counties.

While much of the oil is recovered by big, out-of-state companies, the Nebraska Oil and Gas Commission lists nine companies headquartered in Southwest Nebraska, including four in McCook.

And while you're looking out the window, you may spot a new ethanol plant churning out an alternative fuel, or another one in construction.

Every time the price of oil goes up, ethanol and biofuels become that much more attractive.

Yes, oil and gasoline prices are going to mean a painful adjustment for many of us. But it's good to remember that the news isn't all bad.