Crude oil production in the Uinta Basin has long been captive to the capacity of refineries in Salt Lake City. Texas oilman Jim Finley has championed shipping oil out of state, and basin production is now soaring.
Jim Finley is a bit of a ghost. Outside of oil industry circles, few people have probably ever heard of the man. He rarely speaks in public.
One exception was in October 2021, when Finley, the CEO of Texas-based Finley Resources, presented to a coalition of seven oil-producing counties in eastern Utah. Following his speech, coalition board members and staff applauded Finley for his investments in Utah’s oil-rich Uinta Basin, and thanked him for making time to speak. One person noted that he is a particularly difficult man to get hold of.
“Sometimes nobody knows where I am,” Finley said.
“On purpose,” someone else chimed in. Finley chuckled.
The Texas oilman has played a key role in spearheading the kind of oil boom that has long evaded the remote basin. In just over a decade, he’s become one of the top producers in the Uinta and is now playing an outsize role in shaping Utah’s energy future.