Before you drill or operate a well, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources requires a plugging and restoration bond under the Oil and Gas Act (225 ILCS 725/6) — $2,500 per individual permit, or a $25,000 blanket bond for all your permits. Pricing is 5% of the bond amount, $100 minimum, confirmed via a soft credit check.
















Your DNR permit is waiting on this bond. Here is the entire process — no broker phone tag:
Your operator details, the bond amount ($2,500 individual or $25,000 blanket), and the effective date. The only extra step is a one-time consent to a soft credit pull.
Most of these clear quickly; if underwriting needs anything, you hear from an underwriter within 48 hours. The credit check is a soft pull only — never a hard inquiry, no impact on your score.
Pay online and receive the executed bond, ready to file with the Office of Oil and Gas Resource Management before your permit issues. Wet-ink originals mailed whenever the state insists.
Illinois regulates oil and gas wells through the Department of Natural Resources' Office of Oil and Gas Resource Management under the Illinois Oil and Gas Act (225 ILCS 725). Before the Department issues a permit to drill, deepen, convert, or operate a well, the operator must post a bond securing the eventual plugging of the well and restoration of the site.
Section 6 of the Act sets the amount at $2,500 for each individual permit, or a $25,000 blanket bond that covers all of an operator's permits. The bond stands behind your obligation to properly plug and abandon the well — if you don't, the state can recover against it to do the work.
It is a guarantee, not insurance for you — if the surety pays the state, you repay the surety. The bond stays in effect until the Department releases it, after plugging and restoration are verified complete. We issue the per-well or blanket amount at 5% of the bond amount, $100 minimum, confirmed via a soft credit check that never affects your score.
These are the actual underwriting fields, including a one-time consent to a soft credit pull. Submit once and your bond is typically issued within 1–2 business days.
Start the application →From $100, short application, e-signed bond in 1–2 business days. Free until issued.