John T. (Jack) Riddell

Jack is a 1955 graduate of Indiana University with a degree in geology.  He is a veteran of the United States Air Force.

He began his geology career in the late 1950s in Liberty, Texas, where he worked at General Crude Oil Company covering drilling operations in South Texas and on the Upper Gulf Coast.  His studies of fault patterns of oil and gas reservoirs in salt domes was published by the Houston Geological Society and included in the book Petroleum Geology of the United States.  His geology work laid the groundwork for new discoveries within the Esperson Dome Field.  By 1984, the Esperson Field overall had produced over fifty million barrels of oil.  

After returning to work as an independent petroleum geologist in southwestern Indiana in 1966, he served as president of the Indiana-Kentucky Geological Society and served as a delegate to the American Association of Petroleum Geologists.

In 1980, Jack was responsible for significant oil discoveries in Posey County, including the Wadesville North Field.  This field was recognized by the Indiana Geological Survey on its list of most significant Illinois Basis activity, as it opened up an oil producing formation – the Renault Sand that had been previously overlooked.

In 2004, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Award from the Professional Geologists of Indiana.

Jack is married to Audree Riddell, a former instructor at the University of Southern Indiana and teacher of high school English in Carmi, Illinois.