A boom in the oil patch is reverberating throughout the Miss-Lou. Ask anyone affiliated with the field &8212; Pat Burns with Energy Drilling, for example.

&8220;It&8217;s been accelerating for us in the oil business in general for the last year and a half, and it really picked up steam about the middle of last year,&8221; Burns said. &8220;I think most people had a good year.&8221;

Geologist Courtney Aldridge agreed. He has hired a second geologist and two engineers to work with him at Aldridge Operating Company, LLC, a business he started in 1994.

&8220;We are doing more projects than ever before,&8221; he said. In fact, the business only recently moved from Main Street to larger office space on Providence Road.

Aldridge describes his piece of the oilfield pie as niche drilling, which includes finding old and abandoned wells and drilling for oil, not natural gas. &8220;I lower my lifting cost and make the wells profitable,&8221; he said.

Burns said the prices of oil and natural gas and the increased demand around the world have affected the market.

&8220;2005 was our biggest year,&8221; he said. &8220;We&8217;ve added office staff and yard staff and in the last year and a half have created about 30 jobs. And we&8217;re right in the middle of building another rig.&8221;

In 2005, the number of rigs operating nationwide grew by 18 percent, an oilfield report estimates. In some areas, rigs are in short supply.

Energy is an oil and gas drilling contractor. The company &8220;just puts the hole in the ground,&8221; Burns said. &8220;But every aspect of the oil business is affected (by the boom).&8221;

The geologists and engineers find the locations and the investors. The land men search records for leasing information.

&8220;You have location builders like R.W. Delaney Construction, and then people like us,&8221; Burns said.

At R.W. Delaney Construction, co-owner Randy Irvin, who shares the business with Jimmy Delaney, said their company has grown to more than 100 employees from 35 in 1988.

&8220;We&8217;re working in East Texas, South Louisiana, North Louisiana and Mississippi, wherever the action is,&8221; Irvin said.

The Delaney company provides trucking and transportation, hauling heavy oil and gas equipment; and dismantles oil rigs, moves them and re-assembles them, Irvin said.

&8220;We have bull dozers that clear and level and dig huge pits for oil well sites, and we do restoration work at the site after the rig is removed,&8221; he said. &8220;Whatever labor needs the oil companies have, we furnish the labor.&8221;

The company is busy, Irvin said. Most of the work is in natural gas rather than oil.

Burns agreed. &8220;There is a high demand for gas,&8221; he said. &8220;Probably 90 percent of the rigs in the U.S. are drilling for natural gas&8221;

New technology has aided the oil business &8212; new evaluation and new down-hole techniques, he said.

&8220;The activity around here is higher than it has been in a while, but, of course, it&8217;s nothing like 25 years ago,&8221; Burns said.

Bubba Bruce at Wilson Supply estimated oilfield business has increased by 50 to 60 percent. &8220;The thing that holds some of it back is the lack of work-over rigs,&8221; he said.

His business has seen perhaps a 30 percent increase in sales in the last year, Bruce said. &8220;We saw it coming but didn&8217;t know it would be so big.&8221;

Wilson is affiliated with a company of 114 stores based out of Houston. &8220;Our people tell us to expect another five to seven years of this,&8221; he said.

A boom for anyone in the oil business is a boost to the local economy, he said. &8220;Most of the people are drilling away from here,&8221; he said. &8220;But it helps the whole economy. The independents around here take care of the local economy, and we appreciate that.