The heart of a free market system called capitalism is competition, so please do enter into the field.  As you can see here, you'll face stiff competiton.  However, the opportunity for you to gain experience and monetary profit does exist if you can find a profit model for your firm. 

  I would enter into the oil research field if I was in an area and had opportunity that offered it as a possibility, but I would not give up my usual abstracting services:  In other words, my advice to you is not to abandon one service area for another, but to expand on the services that your firm already provides.  "Expand, not shift" makes far more sense to me.

  You'll need to rearch, read and anticipate market conditions, and none of what the others have said in this tread is untrue.  Take it as a warning to move carefully and cautiously, but with due deliberation.  Be smart or the market will bury you. 

  Review your competitors websites to see what they offer.  Read these forums carefully to glean what you can about the industry.  Talk to abstractors at your local courthouses and consider paying one for a one-day tutorial.  Everything you need can be acquired by you doing research into your intended field, and I understand that, while this posting is a part of that effort, you will likely not get any professional sending you reams of forms to copy and use.  Sit down at a word processing computer, look up the state statutes online which govern your industry, get your insurance in order and move forward.

  Allow me to be the first to welcome you into a field of tremendous competition and some opportunity.  Makre success for yourself.  Hope for success, but always prepare for the worst.